How things have changed

As we approach the date of the referendum Mr Salmond has repeatedly refused to answer basic questions on his exact plans for a replacement currency despite being told that there will be no currency union with the rest of Britain.

Many on the Yes side have publicly criticised Mr Salmond for his refusal to consider other options.

Mr Jim Sillars, the former deputy SNP leader, said that: “I’ve been warning Salmond for months that his position on the pound is stupid.”

Mr Salmond once described the pound sterling as “a millstone round our neck” and that Scotland needs “a first class currency like everyone else and not a second class currency that we have just now.”

In the past Mr Salmond has always had an alternative currency for Scotland. It is the Euro. In 2009 he stated that there was a strong argument for the Euro. Earlier he stated that an independent Scotland would apply for membership of the Euro. How things have changed!

A number of countries in the Euro zone have severe economic difficulties because of Euro monetary union and because they cannot control their own monetary and fiscal destinies.

Mr Jim Fairlie, another former deputy SNP leader, knows who to blame if Scots vote No in the referendum. He writes that: “the person who will carry the blame will be Alex Salmond whose arrogance has become unbearable.”

He says that: “on the question of currency, under his leadership, the SNP has been up more blind alleys than the three blind mice, and no longer has credibility left.”

The Yes side are split on the issue of Scotland’s currency and will pay the consequences on September 18. Neal McShane, Cambuslang.