The Gloves Are Well And Truly Off

[youngmafbog]

http://news.sky.com/story/1324618/salmond-wins-with-debt-is-yours-threat

So Salmond wants to walk away without Scotlands share of the debt. Allow him to do so I say, in return there are not ties whatsoever with Scotland, Scottish in the UK will need a visa and borders will be locked down tight. To be honest I believe it is the best way for both countries.

The vote is so close that even if the Yes vote wins, the No will not go away which will be disastrous for Scotland and the UK as a whole.

All Scottish, please vote Yes to Independence and lets thrash out the separation asap so we can all get on with our lives for the better.

The ICM/Guardian exit poll had a thumping win for the First Minister so here's hoping the Scottish do see sense and leave the UK.

[DTCwordfan]

Shame there isn't a time 10.66 on the clock - however, there is 12.15 and 17.01 as to Magna Carta and the Act of Settlement.

[Wharton]

Colmc54 - This scurrilous propaganda being spouted about that an independent Scotland would renege on its share of the national debt has its origin in the ludicrous declaration from Westminster that Scotland would lose Sterling as its currency. How then to pay the debt, a wampumpeag perhaps? However, Scotland will retain Sterling and pay its debts.

anne - Aye, I think it would take about 700 years for some on here to get a joke, apart from DTC :-)

[anneasquith]

Wharton.............I don't think you should call DT a joke :)

[Wharton]

anne - Behave yersel lassie, fine weel ye ken ah widnae tak a rise oot the puir chiel :-)

[Colmc54]

Wharton.

I believe all three of the main party leaders in the rest of the UK have stated that they are against an independent Scotland continuing to have the UK Sterling pound as it's currency.

You can see that if Scotland's quest for populist 'social justice' was to threaten the value of the UK Pound Sterling then the people of the rest of the UK would be held hostage to the ability of the Scottish economy to credibly afford the cost of their grandiose socialist ambitions. Do you think that is fair?

Let's say Scotland decides instead to use the US Dollar as it's currency, or the Euro for example, then the roughly 10% of the UK's national debt (calculated as I understand it on a per capita basis) just needs to be converted into whatever currency you decide to use based on the exchange rates prevailing on the day Scotland officially becomes independent.

Salmond is conflating to his audience. There is no connection between the currency used in a country and it's debt obligations.

If it were so all the UK would need to do to make our trillions of Pounds worth of debt disappear would be to join the Eurozone.

A fledgling sovereign state reneging on it's debt repayment obligations for spurious conflated reasons might find it impossible to borrow money to pay it's bills long into the future I would have thought.

Remember debt is the property of those owed not those indebted.

[Wharton]

Colmc54

1 Regardless of what anyone thinks, Scotland will retain Sterling as its currency.

2 Having done so, there will be no 'threat' to its value.

3 Let's say Scotland decides to use Sterling....

4 Scotland will have no trouble in honouring its debt obligations, providing the Bank of England is careful with Sterling, which I'm sure it will.

5 Whence the 'trillions of Pounds worth of debt'?

6 Being one of the richest countries in the world, an independent Scotland could well be a lender instead of a borrower.

7 Remember Scotland will use Sterling.

[ChillDoubt]

Regardless of what anyone thinks, Scotland will retain Sterling as its currency.
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Only if Scotland renames itself Fantasy Land one feels.

What Salmond wants and what he subsequently would get are eons apart, as anyone who has a say in it's decision has poured cold water on it.

[Obiter]

Oor Wullie and The Broons have been strangely silent on this issue.

[SirOracle]

You are flogging a dead horse Wharton.

Too many of the people on this site just blindly follow the hysterical ravings of the London press without trying to ascertain the facts.

The pound sterling does not belong to England but to the UK and N Ireland.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

[ChillDoubt]

The pound sterling does not belong to England but to the UK and N Ireland.
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Hence if Scotland leaves the UK it will no longer have any claim or rights to use Sterling, surely?

[SirOracle]

As far as I know ChillDoubt any country in the world can opt to use any currency that it decides to use.

[Ouzel]

If there was a yes vote, Scotland could retain the pound as its currency.

That would not equate to a currency union with the UK and the Bank of England acting as lender of last resort.

[jeffa]

"a guaranteed permanant [sic] Tory Government that would result?"

Not again! Why do people continue to spout this nonsense?

[SirOracle]

I didn't say that it did Ouzel.

But it would be the sensible course for BOTH countries.

[ChillDoubt]

As far as I know ChillDoubt any country in the world can opt to use any currency that it decides to use.
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Then surely, as the newest and supposedly wealthiest countries in the world they'll go with the Kuwaiti Dinar, currently the strongest currency in the world?
With all their new-found oil wealth they'll be mingling with the Sheiks, surely? Why go with Sterling?

[Ouzel]

SirOracle - do you truly believe that England, Wales and Northern Ireland would see it as sensible ?

[Peter Pedant]

// As far as I know ChillDoubt any country in the world can opt to use any currency that it decides to use. //

yup panama - the almighty dollar
Vietnam - the dollar again
Zim - erm dollar or sterling

and what do they have in common ?

economic basket cases.

[Wharton]

We'll go with Sterling because we choose to, it's a great thing this independence, eh?

[ChillDoubt]

We'll go with Sterling because we choose to, it's a great thing this independence, eh?
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But those in power(and even Red Ed!) and responsible for Sterling have already said they won't allow that, that's why Salmond has consistently floundered when challenged over the issue.

[Obiter]

If I were Scottish then on principle I would not wish to retain the pound sterling. I would revert to the traditional currency; the haggis, ten tattiebogles to the haggis and ten neeps to each tattiebogle.