The day of destiny
SO now we know: September 18, 2014, is the day of destiny. It is the date on which Alex Salmond hopes a Yes vote in the independence referendum will break up the United Kingdom. The date of the poll was the last detail remaining to be settled. The phoney war is over and we now know the time frame of the campaign.
What we do not know is almost every key aspect of the SNP plan for separatism. Repeatedly, this newspaper has challenged Alex Salmond and his team to explain how independence would be implemented and, most importantly, funded. On neither of these critical i ssues has a credible explanation been forthcoming. Some of the SNP’s early positions were so indefensible they have already been abandoned. Most notorious was the claim that an independent Scotland would remain a member of the European Union without any need for renegotiation. It was even claimed the Scottish Government had sought advice on this from law officers. This was exposed as untrue. Then European Commission president José Manuel Barroso confirmed that an independent Scotland would have to negotiate readmission.
Still unresolved is the issue of what currency a separate Scotland would be allowed to use. EU rules oblige new member states to adopt the euro and Chancellor George Osborne has refused to confirm Scotland could continue to use the pound. If it did, interest rates would be set in London. Also unresolved is the question of Scotland’s share of the UK national debt, which economists have estimated at £140billion. As for the toxic Scottish banks, bailing them out would have cost every Scot £90,000. The SNP has made completely contradictory claims on personal taxation and it has failed to address the issue of who would collect taxes in an independent Scotland. Obviously not HMRC: how much would it cost to set up a new revenue system? Likewise, the cost of establishing Scottish embassies around the world would be £1billion.
Oil revenue forecasts are becoming more dismal every year, yet the SNP wants to anchor the national economy to this dwindling asset. Recently it has emerged that independence would create chaos in our already troubled pensions system. What would replace the Royal Mail, and at what cost? Answers come there none – certainly not credible ones.
September 18, 2014, is the date when Alex Salmond will have to bin the envelope on which he has scribbled so many ill-thoughtout fantasies.