No currency plan B for an independent Scotland, says Salmond

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has said that, should Scotland vote in favour of independence next month, there is no alternative to a currency union with the UK. 

 

In an open letter to voters, published in this morning's edition of The Sun, he wrote: "Plan B implies settling for what's second best. And neither myself, my colleagues in the SNP, or the wider yes campaign will ever settle for second best for Scotland."

 

For a fair share of the Bank of England, he said that Scotland would be “willing and able” take on its fair share of national debt.

 

Salmond has come under increasing pressure to come up with a plan B since Friday, when Labour leader Ed Miliband said to business leaders in Glasgow that he would veto a currency union in the event of independence.

 

He accused Salmond of hampering his own chances of a currency union by threatening to default on Scotland's share on the UK debt, should Westminster veto the union. 

 

"If alarm bells were ringing after Tuesday night [in reference to Salmond's currency proposals] when there were no answers, they should be ringing much, much louder if they're now threatening to renege on their debts," Miliband said. 

 

The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats have now all said that they would not agree to a currency union with an independent Scotland. 

 

But John Swinney, Scotland's finance secretary, argued that UK companies operating in Scotland would suffer from increased business costs if Scotland was prevented from using the pound. He added that Treasury would be left to pay off Scotland's debt, which is projected to be £1.6tn by 2016.

 

"They cannot turn round to the electorate in the rest of the UK and say we are going to let the Scots go away debt-free from the United Kingdom, we are going to let them off from an annual cost of £5bn," he told BBC Radio Scotland. "That's why they will agree to a currency union after independence."

 

The referendum for Scottish independence is taking place on 18 September.