The only way to guarantee that we keep the UK pound is to vote to stay in the UK, Murdo Fraser MSP said today.
The MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife was speaking after a new report made it clear that the rest of the UK would be ‘highly unlikely’ to enter into a new, Eurozone style currency union with Scotland if we vote to leave the UK.
The report, from the Treasury, leaves the nationalists currency plans in tatters. This leaves Scotland facing the prospect of either having to adopt the Euro or launch a new currency altogether if we separate from the UK.
The nationalists have now started arguing in public about what their currency plan should be. John Swinney continues to push the ‘highly unlikely’ option of a currency union with the country we would have just walked away from, while Yes Scotland board member Patrick Harvie has called for a new currency to be created.
Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“The nationalists plans on currency are in absolute tatters. They have spent years chopping and changing what their policy would be and now every option open to them has either been ruled out or is much worse than what we have at present.
“First of all they wanted the Euro, then they wanted us to join the ranks of countries such as Palau, the Marshall Islands and East Timor and not actually have a currency. Now they have asserted that the rest of the UK would be happy to enter into some kind of Eurozone style currency union with us, even although we had just told them that we didn’t want to be in the same country as them.
“The Nationalists are trying to do on membership of the pound what they did on membership of the EU or NATO – asserting that everything would be ok, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
“Alex Salmond is asking us to take a huge gamble with our money. The only way to guarantee that we keep the UK pound is to vote to stay in the UK.”