Are ye no feart?

p111br__z1__1973There is a subtle message being promoted by the No Campaign that an independent Scotland may not be able to retain Sterling and might be obliged to introduce its own currency. This uncertainty feeds upon the apparent SNP policy of preferring a Sterling Currency Union under the Bank of England whilst leaving Scotland free to control its own taxation programme. The Unionists dismiss even this modest flexibility on the basis that North Sea Oil is volatile and unreliable and is therefore an unsound source of income.

The truth is rather different because the present UK budget would be a lot worse off without the oil taxes, but even more important is that the impact upon the UK Balance of Payments, already in meltdown, would be severely impaired. UK Oil & Gas tells us that “The contribution of indigenous oil and gas which reduces the requirement for imports, improved the 2010 UK balance of payments to the tune of £32 billion plus associated offshore products & services which contributed a further £6.5 billion”. Despite these inputs UK BoP deficits consistently average £50/60 billion per annum. Please do the math and draw your own conclusions.

Indeed it could be argued that this would be the final nail in Sterling’s coffin. The anomaly here is that it is Sterling that needs Scotland and not vice versa. The Unionists have learned well from their financial masters in the City – the alchemy of converting liabilities into assets.

Like it or not we live in a world governed by financial interests first and an elected government second. We all know about everyday politics and our media is saturated with political posturing and point scoring, but it is only recently that we are beginning to realise the dominance of High Finance over our once sacred democratic institutions. It is this malign influence which has manipulated senior politicians and corrupted the entire foundation of our monetary system. We now have government by finance and the only question is will it destroy us before it moulds us into its servants?

This should have been the battlefield to preserve Sterling as the basic means of exchange for everyone in the United Kingdom. Instead it is a story of corruption which pervades the entire Westminster Establishment. There was no battle and there were no heroes; it has been a victory so complete that now all we hear is our politicians extolling the virtues of the City of London – and a mainstream media which dutifully peddles its propaganda.

The No Campaign floods us with scare stories but we don’t need them, there are enough real ones out there already as every day our society and economy deteriorates further into stagnation. We empathise with our British cousins outside the South East, but we must get out from under this repression, the dominance of paper-pushers over engineers, financiers over the Health Service and certainly not least the Benefits Agency over the provision of real jobs and apprenticeships. To the sceptics who ask where the jobs will come from, then just go into the street and look around at the state we are in; and to those who ask where is the money to come from, then the answer is from a banking system which serves the community first and itself second.

The recent demise of Margaret Thatcher has attracted much comment from the left – the destruction of the Unions and our manufacturing industry and the privatisation of public assets. It is significant that little is heard of the deregulation of the banking system which opened the flood gates to financial mass destruction which, in the name of capitalism, has destroyed not just the economy but the very society upon which it feeds. This is the elephant in the room – which the SNP does not wish to know about..

If Scotland achieves independence it must free itself of Sterling and its financial cancers. An independent Scotland needs its own Central Bank, its own currency and a return to honest banking. There can be no independence without financial independence, and for anyone who would like to read about this in detail – just google in that phrase and be prepared to spend an hour dismantling the smoke and mirrors and take a look at what might just become the second Scottish Enlightenment..

Comments (17)

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  1. Charles Patrick O'Brien says:

    Aye its right that we have our own currency,Sterling is ours as much as it is anybody’s.So suppose we use our Sterling,until we decide to use our new Sterling!

  2. David McCann says:

    Maybe Eck should call their bluff. Say that we are really sanguine about whether or not we retain Sterling, so if rUK dont want to co-operate, we will just deal in ScotsPetro£s/Merks/whatever!

  3. cirsium says:

    “An independent Scotland needs its own Central Bank, its own currency and a return to honest banking. ”

    You hit the Bull’s eye with this article, R F Morrison. Thank you.

  4. Clydebuilt says:

    I’ve always thought the reason for retaining Stirling is to stop attacks on a new Scottish currency.

  5. EcoJoe says:

    naw, Ah’m no!

  6. Macart says:

    Firstly, NO AH”M NO FEART!

    Now that’s out of the way, let’s think about why we might want to retain Sterling in the interim. Firstly its partly ours anyhoo and we are fully entitled to its use regardless of the deception of much of the opposition. Next up I’d surmise the purely political reason of allowing a smooth transition for the public and business sectors of Scotland from UK dependent to independent. People like their comfort zones, familiar chairs in front of the telly, always but always two sugars, loads of milk and it has to be Nescafe and of course the money in their pockets and savings. Nothing puts the frighteners on a populace as much as the thought that their hard earned savings may disappear overnight in some form of unseen fiscal carnage. Ask Mr Darling about that one since his decisions in office came pretty damn close to it.

    I have absolutely no doubt that we will one day have a solid Scots currency, I’m looking forward to it. But right now we need to build foundations, both with the neighbours and in terms of a manufacturing, wealth producing infrastructure. We need to set our house in order before moving on to the next step. Even with a YES vote independence is going to take some time to bring about.

  7. Macant should already be very worried about the money in his pocket and his hard-earned savings… and if Scotland is going to run its own business we must nurture our good neighbours and trading partners – but let’s not appoint a Financial Director from RBS, Goldman Sachs or the City of London…..

    1. Macart says:

      If only I had money to be worried about. 😀

  8. Patrick S Hogg says:

    There is already a currency divide and for us real people in the real world there is the SCOTTISH POUND, SCOTTISH FIVERS, SCOTTISH TENNERS (A RABBIE) SCOTTISH TWENTY (A BRUCE) and so on – remember, the money they dont want to take when you travel to London because they see it as a foreign currency? A Scottish Sterling zone with a Scottish central bank is ESSENTIAL ASAP and printing our AIN SCOTTISH BANK NOTES. There will be another economic crash from the London Stock exchange and Scotland has to be ready for it when it happens so we are not sucked into IMF control when the plug is pulled! Time to read the book CURRENCY WARS and see what is really happening to modern geopolitical wars…….

  9. Andy Anderson says:

    At last some real sense about the role of currency. The SNP have secured the referendum which will, I believe, deliver political independence for us. However if they pursue this stupid policy of accepting currency regulated by the corrupt Bank of England they will throw away our economic independence. Ronnie Morrison is spot on. The truth is that when we vote Yes there will be considerable pressure on the pound and the RoUK will be desperate for Scotland to stay in the sterling area. Scotland must have a drastically reformed Banking system under the Scottish Government’s control and its own currency if it is to have economic independence; but it will not want to see the RoUK, its biggest trading partner, collapse. So it could do a short-term deal to use sterling under certain conditions for a limited period. However the first important issue is to establish a reformed banking system and then get them to issue and regulate the currency in line with the Scottish Government’s monetary and fiscal policy.

  10. John Souter says:

    Power is the game of smoke and mirrors, money is its markers and debt its lash.

    Unfortunately the world is hooked by the crooks who play it.

    For a country the size of Scotland to break out of its toxic myths it would need for a start to nationalise its oil, gas and utility industries and face head on the sanctions of the global marketeers.

    Would any newly independent country have the arsenal to make a difference – would Scotland have the balls to try it, when supposedly the largest section of its society doesn’t want to commit themselves to independence?

    One hurdle at a time – the referendum is only a qualifier for the start line.

  11. Right Andy – it is not widely appreciated among politicians that they cannot introduce banking reform without an independent currency. Imagine trying to enforce sensible banking regulation whilst RoUK banks remain free to rape the Scottish economy – foxes and henhouses come to mind….. Switching currencies is no big deal provided it is well planned and executed over a weekend. The oldies will remember decimalisation – and more recently the euro displaced many separate currencies with hardly a hiccup. The transition might be 6 months or a year but until it’s done the new Scotland will remain largely on hold.

  12. Andy Anderson says:

    John Souter is right that we need to take one hurdle at a time, so the first hurdle is the referendum. However when we jump that hurdle, as we will, then the second one will be right in front of us, now that will not be a problem if we are prepared for it, so let us prepare. The day after the Scottish people vote for independence we will be in the sterling area with the pound as now (assuming the pound survives that long) this will continue to be the position until the Scottish Government changes it. Changing currencies is no big deal as Ronnie says, the big issue will be major reform of the banking system in Scotland back to the more regulated system which Thatcher and Reagan dismantled. As for sterling my own view is that there will be a run on the pound in international currency exchanges and the RoUK will be desperate for Scotland to publicly announce that it is staying in Sterling (under almost any conditions) in order to stready the pound. When that time comes the Scottish negotiators will hold all the best cards but it is vital they are clear about their objectives.

  13. Robert Ingram says:

    At the moment the Scottish Democratic Alliance are the only party which has fully researched and advocate having our own Scottish Currency. The Scots Pound. As can be read in RD Morrison’s library of papers a transitional period with both currencies might be required until all related currency exchange issues can be resolved.

  14. vinlmbe says:

    At last the debate moves on to the real benefits of independence. Post referendum is when the real work starts as we dismantle the failed capitalist monetary system and rebuild the fabric of society with a fairer more just economy and a monetary system backed by the labour of the people.

  15. ronald alexander mcdonald says:

    I agree. The rUK can keep shared assets that we have all paid for via our taxes for many years.

    They can also keep the debt that they have accumulated via their mismanagement, That’s a fair deal.

    We would be much better off and would start as an Independent nation by saving around £5.5bn a year. That’s our estimated interest to service the debt.

    The rUK will want to negotiate a permanent Currency Union. No thanks!

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