Neutralise Project Fear impact by educating voters on economics
INOTE that Stewart Hosie, the SNP’s current economics spokesperson, thinks that telling people the truth about currency will create another bout of “Project Fear” which the Unionists will exploit.
Stewart should know that the Unionists created “Project Fear”, they named it, and they are still working on it. They never stopped, or even paused, in exploiting Project Fear and there is no sign that they are likely to do so.
Project Fear works by exploiting general ignorance about issues like currency, banking and pensions; so the very best way to expose Project Fear is the spread of knowledge and enlightenment in the Scottish public about these issues, not to pretend that the present situation is fine and that it need not be addressed.
If Stewart believes that the present status of the pound sterling as an international exchange currency is stable and secure, then he must have been in a coma when the Liz Truss government was brought down by international money markets. If Stewart didn’t notice that, most Scottish people did, and they are not as naive as he thinks they are.
Using an international exchange currency like sterling is much more risky that having our own domestic currency. Surely Stewart must know that if he knows anything about economics, and he should know that having massive reserves is more relevant to an international exchange currency than it is to a domestic currency with a strong balance-oftrade position.
So come off it, Stewart – an independent Scotland moving quickly to establish its own currency is by far less risky than telling people there is no problem with sterling and that this will be true for the foreseeable future. To do this is not based on any reasonable economic grounds, it is just an attempt at misleading the electorate and Scottish people will see it for the nonsense it is.
Andy Anderson Ardrossan
RICHARD Murphy’s partial rebuttal of Mark Blyth’s remarks regarding the viability of an independent Scotland is not particularly convincing if you don’t already have faith in the country’s ability to balance its trade (Was Mark Blyth wrong about an independent Scotland’s economy?, the national. scot, Mar 28). For the record, I do!
More concerning for me was Blyth’s highlighting of the foreign ownership of nearly all of our strategic industries, from salmon farming through whisky and hydrocarbons to renewables.
All of the profits from these enterprises flow out of the country, and many of the procurement chains lead back to the country of ownership.
This a huge problem for an independent Scotland and it has been growing for more than a century – think Robertson’s jam, Coats threads and McVitie’s biscuits as examples. It is also a factor of differentiation between Scotland and the Nordic countries we aspire to emulate.
There’s little we can do about the wrongs of the past in this regard, but surly we can stop it continuing in the way we develop renewables. If our government is prepared to adopt a new approach to this sector’s ownership through mandated state and/or community participation, together with strict local content rules, we can begin to move back towards a more indigenous industrial base.
Inward investment has a role in any economy, but it must be managed properly, and is not the universal panacea many in the media and in the Unionist community would have us believe. Cameron Crawford Rothesay
WELL said, Richard Murphy. The SNP in government has had years to find out the truth about Scotland’s economy but has refused to even bother. Instead it breathlessly rushes to publish the latest GERS figures. Is it any wonder people are questioning the SNP’s desire for independence? Is it any wonder Mr Vow, Murray Foote, is the SNP’s chief executive? Sanny Martin via the national.scot
WHEN Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves say government spending is