On the fundamentals Alex Salmond's blueprint for independence resembles a piece of Swiss cheese with holes running through it.
At over 600 pages, the publication today of the Scottish government’s blueprint for independence could prove to be one of the biggest abuses of taxpayer-funded civil servant time ever seen.
What Alex Salmond and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon have produced is, as Better Together argued, tantamount to a wish list.
Whilst the document might be promising the earth, the reality is that on the fundamentals it resembles a piece of Swiss cheese with holes running throughout.
Take for example currency union. The document declares in no uncertain terms:
“An independent Scotland will be able to decide our currency and the arrangements for monetary policy.”
It asserts also that “Scotland will continue to use the pound”. The only snag is that it wouldn’t be for an independent Scotland to dictate to the rest of the UK whether it could adopt the pound.
Wales’ first minister Carwyn Jones has already made clear that he is “not convinced” that a currency union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK could work.
“I would be uncomfortable being part of a currency union where there are competing governments trying to run it. If there is a disagreement, who has the final say? This is a recipe for instability and these things matter, particularly in times of crisis,” he said.
Likewise both the current UK government and the shadow chancellor Ed Balls have concluded that a currency union would be highly unlikely. The SNP cannot, in all honesty, be certain of anything when it comes to the currency and independent Scotland would use.
On the crucial issue of nuclear weapons, the document again reiterates that an SNP government would, under independence, seek to banish such weapons from Scotland altogether whilst remaining in NATO.
Such a position remains dubious to say the least. Take the former NATO secretary general Lord Robertson, someone with probably more understanding of the subject than Alex Salmond, who earlier this year wrote:
“The Nato Strategic Concept states, ‘As long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance’. I have expressed my doubts about whether Scotland could eject nuclear weapons one day and expect to be welcomed into a nuclear alliance the next.”
These might just be two issues from a lengthy document, but they remain two of the most crucial issues of all. The currency a nation uses and defence systems it adopts are the very highest of priorities for sovereign nations, yet today’s paper cannot be certain of anything on these matters.
As the columnist Peter Jones so clearly writes in today’s Scotsman:
“We know broadly what Mr Salmond expects independence will deliver, which will have an impact internationally – Scottish membership of the European Union, non-nuclear independent membership of Nato, and Scottish sharing of the pound inside a UK sterling zone.
“We also know a bit about what the UK government’s attitude to these expectations is. What we don’t know is how other countries, who have levers in this debate, regard it. We might expect that France, for example, which has an equivocal relationship with Britain, or les Anglo-Saxons, might cheerfully help push through Scottish EU membership. But what if it regards the upheaval of having to remove Trident submarines from Scotland as an unacceptable dilution of European, and hence French, security?”
“On the other side of the debate, Germany has an acute interest in European financial stability. What if it decides that a shared sterling zone is the best guarantee of British financial stability and uses its clout in the EU, say by agreeing certain EU powers should be repatriated to assist David Cameron’s EU referendum, to achieve that?”
He continues:
“…the point remains – little of what Mr Salmond publishes today can be guaranteed as he might end up, thanks to truculent voters in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, negotiating with an extremely hostile UK government.”
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
20 Responses to “The Swiss cheese blueprint for Scotland”
Jake Church
2 hours since released and good old left foot forward has all 670 analysed already and no guessing what the outcome was, typical English based nonsense, MON SCOTLAND CANNAE WAIT TO GET AWAY FROM THIS SOAR ALBA GU BRATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
uglyfatbloke
trident is a red herring for both sides. The US won’t use a nuke and it sure as hell won’t let the UK use one either since we cannot use one of these (leased) weapons without the consent of the President.
The EU is a bit of a blind spot for both sides as well. Scoltand is already in the EU, but that does n’t mean that the other members would n’t move to get her out. The ones with N.Sea fishing interests would doubtless be in favour, but it would be tricky for Belgium which has it’s own separation/disunion issues – likewise Spain/Catalonia and France/Corsica. OTH, the EU would have to invent a mechanism for excluding Scotland, which would require unanimous agreement among the member states.
AdamRamsay
also, under the NPT, surely it would be illegal for a new country to have nuclear weapons?
Stephen Wigmore
No. The pound is Great Britain’s currency, which Scotland would be opting out of. If Scotland leaves it still belongs to Great Britain, and Great Britain would owe Scotland nothing, certainly not use of our currency or our central bank.
Personally I’m all for letting an Independent Scotland use our currency, for an appropriate fee. Perhaps £10 billion a year. Same for all the rest of Britain’s institutions that Salmond is planning to hang onto. It would be a great way to cut the deficit.
Stephen Wigmore
No, Salmond can’t just have whatever he wants. That’s why it’s called a negotiation. As long as Scotland is in the UK we support each other, that’s what fellow countrymen do. If Scotland leaves Britain owes Scotland nothing and should frankly squeeze it for every possible penny.
Do you want separation or not? You don’t get separation but still to keep whatever nice bits of the UK you want. When you’re out you’re out.