Scottish independence: 'Yes' vote means leaving pound, says Osborne.

UK Chancellor George Osborne has said a vote for Scottish independence would mean walking away from the pound.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Looks like all the UK's political parties are saying the same also, which I completely agree with If the Scots want to leave they can but they must use their own currency.
I don't want the Scots to leave the union because we are stronger together but sorry Scottish people you can't have your cake and eat it also.
I feel this announcement will make people think again about leaving.
But If they do vote to stay I think it would be only fair for the English to have a referendum on whether we want the Scot's in or not .

reply to post by boymonkey74


Err, it is our currency. We don't borrow England's, and they haven't allowed us to use it. We print our own notes, which never get accepted as currency in London anyway, and we kept the pound note long after the rest of Britain changed to coins.

So it is as much a Scottish pound as an English pound - it is the currency of the UK, of which we are currently part.

The Bank of Scotland began issuing notes in 1695. Although the pound scots was still the currency of Scotland, these notes were denominated in sterling in values up to £100. From 1727, the Royal Bank of Scotland also issued notes. Both banks issued some notes denominated in guineas as well as pounds. In the 19th century, regulations limited the smallest note issued by Scottish banks to be the £1 denomination, a note not permitted in England. With the extension of sterling to Ireland in 1825, the Bank of Ireland began issuing sterling notes, later followed by other Irish banks. These notes included the unusual denominations of 30/- and £3. The highest denomination issued by the Irish banks was £100. In 1826, banks at least 65 miles (105 km) from London were given permission to issue their own paper money. From 1844, new banks were excluded from issuing notes in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Ireland. Consequently, the number of private banknotes dwindled in England and Wales but proliferated in Scotland and Ireland. The last English private banknotes were issued in 1921.

Wiki sterling

reply to post by boymonkey74


Seems legit that they would need their own currency, however it also seems like the British parliament are looking for any excuse to deter them...

We just need to figure out why...

beansidhe
reply to post by boymonkey74

 

Err, it is our currency. We don't borrow England's, and they haven't allowed us to use it. We print our own notes, which never get accepted as currency in London anyway, and we kept the pound note long after the rest of Britain changed to coins.

So it is as much a Scottish pound as an English pound - it is the currency of the UK, of which we are currently part.

True, however, you can't have two separate countries running off the same currency, it would be a nightmare to keep track of. Scotland can't just say "I'm leaving and I'm taking the pound with me!", it's not like stealing the dog after a divorce lol

ETA: To be fair, all you really have to do is change the name, or call it the NSP (National Scottish Pound). There's plenty of countries that have their own version of the dollar.

EETA: You would only be a part of the UK like European countries that are not in the EU, so no same currency, so free trading laws, free immigration etc etc

reply to post by boymonkey74


I hope the Scots vote for independence and they get it. It will mean that a totally unfair situation for the English will start to be resolved and that is the fact that we have a Scottish Parliament and yet we still have Scots sitting in the London Parliament.

What really got me about this was having the tv interview a couple of Scottish MPs saying that it would be wrong for Scotland to have independence without their owning to the fact that it could affect their sitting in the London Parliament. I do think that when we have separate parliaments or assemblies for other parts of the UK people from those paqrts should not sit in the London Parliament simply because only the English who make ujp the bulk of the UK are not represented as the others are.

I suspect that what is really at stake here are several things firstly the royal lands and castles in Scotland - yes they will keep her but once its a separate coutry and the people get a vote, they may not choose to retain a monarch any more and then grab royal lands and - open them up to the public for income from the nosy - imagine that!

The clout England would have would be reduced in the world and also the overall budget would be smaller.

I want to see my country move away from being a 'major player' in the world which I know the Elite who choose to live here would hate, but they haven't done anything for the people in this country except yoke them to debt and I suspect with out having such financial clout we would soon be dropped by the world players and could concentrate of repairing our ailing infrastructure and making this country the haven it should be, not a workhorse for the arms, bankers and other greedy institutions that snuggle up in bed together with our politicians. Perhaps then our country would concentrate on what is important to the people here.

I wish the Scots good luck because they certainly could govern themselves and probably do a better job than has been done recently. The reasons for them not using the Pound as currency are reasonable and they will have to choose between the Euro and their own Scottish Pound which they use anyway, so its the course of least resistance.

beansidheErr, it is our currency. We don't borrow England's, and they haven't allowed us to use it. We print our own notes, which never get accepted as currency in London anyway, and we kept the pound note long after the rest of Britain changed to coins.

So it is as much a Scottish pound as an English pound - it is the currency of the UK, of which we are currently part.

That's the point. You currently are. If you choose to leave, you can not keep using the UK currency.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


We could retain the Scottish pound, yes, and call it as such. Personally I would prefer that, as it was our currency before the Union and it would be sensible to revert back to it.

reply to post by boymonkey74


I have seen bits and pieces of this situation and had a question.

I saw someone mention the current PM might resign in order to keep them in the UK. Is there any truth to that / being discussed anywhere else?

Follow up question for currency -

There are several countries that use the US dollar as their official currency. Those countries do that by their won choice and from what I have seen we don't have any say in their economies because of it. They are not allowed to print it, but they get it from the US.

Could the same not be applied to this situation? Could they just not buy British currency on the international market and use it in that manner?

reply to post by Xcathdra


Not heard about that the PM resigning (although I would welcome it ).
I think If they want to break away they have to do it completely , why should the rest of the UK take in to account another country circumstances when setting our interest rates?.
Why do they even want it? a clean break (If the vote goes for independence) is best for everyone.
I really think they will vote to stay, It may be fine for the Scotts for a while but when we invade they will beg us to take them back (jk btw) lol.

reply to post by boymonkey74


Lol fair enough... Your comment about staying or going reminded me of Jim Carr's joke on the topic.



As for the currency from what I have seen we don't take into account the nations that opted to use the dollar. Our movements on currency are based on internal standards / needs.

beansidhe
reply to post by OccamsRazor04

 

We could retain the Scottish pound, yes, and call it as such. Personally I would prefer that, as it was our currency before the Union and it would be sensible to revert back to it.

You can call your currency whatever you want, the point is you can not use the UK pound I believe. If I am not mistaken I have heard that Scottland wanted independance .. but still wanted a bunch of the benefits they enjoy being part of the UK. Using the UK pound was one of them.

If we go independent and decide yo use the pound Osbourne and co will just need to accept it...Scotland owns 10% of all UK Assets..Including 10% of the Bank of England.....
Project Fear have nothing but negativity...Wonder when Project smear will raise it ugly head... when it does The Condems will be running for cover.
C'mon Camoron...Take on Alex in a Head to Head..So far the dumplings sent up from bitter together have been sent Hame, tae think again...By a Wee Wummin. 4=0 so far

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


Guess you heard wrong then. The point of retaining a Scottish pound would be that that is our currency and had been for a very long time.

reply to post by beansidhe


and as stated - IF you opt for independence - you will have to us the scots pound as an INDEPENDANT currency

it will have to have :

1 - an exchange rate to the brittish pound

2 - be underwritten by the new scots govt [ currently scots notes are underwritten by the UK govt ]

beansidhe
reply to post by OccamsRazor04

 

Guess you heard wrong then. The point of retaining a Scottish pound would be that that is our currency and had been for a very long time.

Can you show me where the Scottish leaders are saying they want the Scottish pound and NOT the same pound the Brits use?

would block a formal currency union with the rest of the UK

Which is exactly what I just said. The Scotts want to be independent .. but not have an independent currency. They want their currency to be tied in with the rest of the UK.

"If Scotland walks away from the UK, it walks away from the UK pound," he said.

english.ahram.org.eg...

Further proof ...

First Minister Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party (SNP) has claimed an independent Scotland would have the right to retain the pound.

But Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: "There's no legal reason why the rest of the UK would need to share its currency with Scotland."

As you can see, I heard right. You are wrong. Scottland wants to keep using the UK pound, not create their own pound that is completely separate.

In several previous threads I stated my belief that an independent Scotland would not be able to use Sterling as its currency - and why would they want to?

Sterling - or the British Pound as it is commonly known as - is the currency of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and several of its Crown Dependancies and Overseas Territories.
As an independent Scotland would no longer be part of the UK it would no longer be able to use it as its currency - pretty straight forward.

And why would an independent country want to use a currency that it had absolutely no control or say over?

It seems to me that the Scottish Nationalists want to cherry pick what aspects of independence they want and that independence will be on their terms only.
Life simply doesn't work that way.
If Scotland votes for independence, as is entirely their right, then they take the good....and the bad.

I guess the other alternatives will be using their own currency or adopting the Euro.
I'm not that informed on economic matters to comment on the feasibility or the pro's and cons of using their own currency, but I do know that it would exclude Scotland from admission in to the EU. Membership of the EU is a far from guaranteed certainty, but you can be certain that one of the conditions of any membership will be a demand to adopt the Euro - so again Scotland will only have a very limited control over its currency, that doesn't seem like independence to me.

Would Scotland want to join the EU?
I don't know, that's for the Scots to decide.
But Salmond and SNP are continuing to peddle the lie that membership would be automatic despite assertions from within the EU that it most definitely will not be.

Scotland will vote as Scotland see's fit - and that's how it should be - but I just hope that the vote will be based on qualified and considered reasoning and not the romanticised nonsense and blatant lies that the SNP are spreading in an effort to cloud peoples judgement.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


Well firstly, it's Scotland. There is no Scottland, nor Scotts.
Alex Salmond should not be confused with Scotland, he is the first minister. He does not speak for everyone in Scotland.
If the agreement with the treasury is that we go back to using our pound, so be it. Alex Salmond loves to antagonise Westminister, and you have to take what he says with a knowledge of the man.

The arrogance of England, however, is to assume that it is their pound and not a shared currency. This is the point which Alex Salmond is provoking.

reply to post by beansidhe


It is the UK currency...you vote out so you do away with UK currency, simple really.

Ok...lets just call our new Currency Oil and Gas and Fresh Water...Maybe the US will allow us to use the Dollar or the Chinese the Yen...?
What does it matter what it's called as long as we can trade with it and it remains strong...and most (Independent) financial experts agree that Scotland would be in a stronger financial position one minute after winning a vote for independence.

You have to wonder Why the McCrone Report was Buried for 30 years by successive Westminsters Governments.
en.wikipedia.org...
Better together for who??

beansidhe
reply to post by OccamsRazor04

 

Well firstly, it's Scotland. There is no Scottland, nor Scotts.
Alex Salmond should not be confused with Scotland, he is the first minister. He does not speak for everyone in Scotland.
If the agreement with the treasury is that we go back to using our pound, so be it. Alex Salmond loves to antagonise Westminister, and you have to take what he says with a knowledge of the man.

The arrogance of England, however, is to assume that it is their pound and not a shared currency. This is the point which Alex Salmond is provoking.

Hahaha this really is an argument over who keeps the dog after a divorce "Your the one leaving, this is his home" "I paid the most for him so he should come with me!" hahah

Best scenario Scotland keeps printing the pound but registered as a different currency (NSP) or clone the dog as I like to think of it now haha