Should an independent Kingdom of Scotland be allowed to share the Pound Sterling?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Should an independent Kingdom of Scotland be allowed to share the Pound Sterling?

In recent weeks, a row has broken out over Scottish independence - with the British Government making it clear that in the event of a yes vote for Scottish independence this September, a Sterling Zone (similar to the Eurozone) would not be permitted and that Scotland would be forced to drop the Pound Sterling as it's currency or be forced to adopt it informally. The reason for this is the fear that with two seperate budgets, the former United Kingdom would face a Eurozone style crisis if the remaining United Kingdom or Kingdom of Scotland happened to get into financial trouble.

Alex Salmond and the Scottish National Party (SNP) on the other hand claim that the Pound Sterling does not exclusively belong to the United Kingdom and that it would be up to Scotland whether to adopt the Pound Sterling or not. Salmond and the SNP have also made the case that the British Government would want to keep Scotland within the Pound Sterling to retain it as a major trading/reserve currency across the world.

But what do you think? Do you think that once Scotland becomes independent it forfeits its right to use the Pound Sterling? Do you think that risking a Eurozone style crisis should be ruled out by the British Government in the event of Scottish independence?

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The debate is open to you.

[scottish]

It's scaremongering tactics to get a No vote

If we vote yes (let's hope not) then we'll most likely be getting GBP.

[dbgtz]

The best way I've seen this described is

"We want independence from the UK because we don't get fair recognition and most of the focus is on the City of London"

"In order to ensure stability we will be tieing ourselves to the City of London"

So basically, I am not in favour of a "sterling zone".

[GommeInc]

No. They want total independence. By keeping the pound they would be relying on the Bank of England. A monetary union only works with political union, hence why the Eurozone in trouble. Either they stay part of the UK and keep the pound or become independent and adopt the Euro or have their own currency. They can't pick and choose, while claiming independence.

[Americanozz]

If they want independence then they can get their own money too.

[Mr-Trainor]

My opinion on whether I want them to share the £ with us or not; no, definitely not! A currency union has many economic disadvantages. If the political party in power in Westminster decided to share with them though, then I guess it'd happen whether we like it or not. I remember hearing that the main 3 parties have said no though, so I'm glad tbh .

[-:Undertaker:-]

I remember hearing that the main 3 parties have said no though, so I'm glad tbh .

The fact they've said no makes me believe they'd actually go along with a currency union.

Most of them were stupid enough to advocate joining the Euro after all, they'd be stupid enough to do something like this too.

[LiquidLuck.]

I believe that if Scotland wants total independence, than sharing the currency would be out of the question, and I understand why both countries would be in favor of this.

If Scotland wants true independence, they need to do it economically as well. If they keep the current currency, this would not happen because:
- its interest rates would be set by the Bank of England;
- its economic policies would be strictly controlled by England;
- in the case of an economic crises, Scotland would be helped by the rest of the UK.

The world has seen what sharing a currency between multiple countries can do, and it's not good with different European countries falling apart like Greece and Portugal. If Scotland kept the current currency then out-of-control spending in one country would affect the economy in both of them, destabilizing the currency that is doing so well compared to others around the world.

Now, joining the Euro in my opinion is totally out of the question because we all know how bad that is going. I don't even know who had the not so brilliant idea to suggest such thing, but whoever did it should leave their politic or economic career and start reading world wide news. Although, if Scotland wants to join the European Union, joining the euro is usually a must, so they would need to figure out how they are going to play with their future as I'm not sure the European Communion would admit a country with an unstable economic future, and as the president already said, the Scottish membership would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible".

So I'm guessing the only real solution here would be to create its own currency, which is not also a great idea but since no world organisations want an independent Scotland to be a part of them, I guess they would have to find a way to solve their problems themselves.

Just a final paragraph to push strongly the idea of how the Scottish independence is such a bad decision.. Also if Scotland does become independent I will have to find a new country to go get my degree in, because I do want the possibility of having a job when I finish university. Coming to Scotland for a British degree was the only reason I left Portugal as it looks so much better than a Portuguese one, but I doubt someone would want me with a Scottish degree... So being now able to vote in Scotland, my vote will obviously be against this.

Here is a useful link for this debate:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...-out-1-3337090

[Southe,]

Just a final paragraph to push strongly the idea of how the Scottish independence is such a bad decision.. Also if Scotland does become independent I will have to find a new country to go get my degree in, because I do want the possibility of having a job when I finish university. Coming to Scotland for a British degree was the only reason I left Portugal as it looks so much better than a Portuguese one, but I doubt someone would want me with a Scottish degree... So being now able to vote in Scotland, my vote will obviously be against this.

Don't know how angry that statement has made me. So if Scotland gets it's rightful Independence, it's education will then become obsolete?

Edit: Grr my response to the topic got deleted when i quoted =/ can't be arse to rewrite it so bluntly.

Yes will win, When that happens watch the UK Government try and make deals, all this no you cant use it is scaremongering.
Well i agree Scotland should have it's own currency and i take on board what people have said in here having the same currency so people can still freely use and travel around this island would benefit a lot of people. Also they will want us to pay for some of the UK debt so i can see them making some sort of arrangement.

[LiquidLuck.]

Don't know how angry that statement has made me. So if Scotland gets it's rightful Independence, it's education will then become obsolete?

Edit: Grr my response to the topic got deleted when i quoted =/ can't be arse to rewrite it so bluntly.

Yes will win, When that happens watch the UK Government try and make deals, all this no you cant use it is scaremongering.
Well i agree Scotland should have it's own currency and i take on board what people have said in here having the same currency so people can still freely use and travel around this island would benefit a lot of people. Also they will want us to pay for some of the UK debt so i can see them making some sort of arrangement.

Yes basically. A British degree at the moment will open me many doors due to the English education. If Scotland becomes independent, firstly I can forget about getting a job in elsewhere in the UK, and not many countries would accept a degree from a new country..

If you want to add more reasons to why independent Scotland would screw over my education, lets talk about the EU anti-discrimination laws. That is the only reason why I don't have to pay for university. Now if Scotland becomes independent it will not be part of the EU so who knows if they will make me pay for university and if it's as much as in England, **** that I'm going back to Portugal where you pay one quarter of that!