Large deficits will be the norm

NICOLA Sturgeon can’t win. She is attacked for not preparing an economic prospectus for independence when she is entirely focused on leading Scotland out of the Covid pandemic, and gets faint praise for her more cautious approach which has resulted in a much lower death rate per

100,000 population than in England, where Boris Johnson was prepared to see bodies pile up, or in Labour-run Wales.

Large deficits will become the norm as countries rebuild their economies as part of the Covid recovery. An independent Scotland, with a central bank and its own currency, can print money just like the UK Government, which is under no obligation to repay its massive debt. Austerity is a political choice adopted by the Tories and rejected by the SNP. There is no deficit rule for joining the EU but Scotland could decide, initially at least, to join the European Free Trade Association (Efta), which has free trade arrangements with the EU, plus 24 other countries. The Efta/uk agreement will be finalised later this year.

Scotland’s economy, when benchmarked against similarsized independent nations, paints a vivid but miserable picture of the impact of Westminster’s continued economic mismanagement.

Smaller, more flexible independent nations, invariably outperform the UK, and Scotland as part of the UK will lose that opportunity as the quickest way to recover from the economic impact of Covid.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh.