Independent, European and in wur ain can is where the SNP want us to be
Sturgeon’s vision for Scotland after the independence referendum.
By Bill Heaney
The big currency debate began in the Scottish parliament on Thursday with the Tories having the first toss of the coin, which some would say was appropriate since they have more money than anyone else.
Their deputy leader, Jackson Carlaw, said however that they are content with what they have at present – “Scotland does not want to be in a separate currency,” he told First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
But she immediately hand-bagged him – “Scotland should have the ability to choose the arrangements on currency, and everything else, that best suit our needs and interests.
“That is the very essence of independence, and it is why I and an increasing number of people in Scotland support Scotland becoming an independent country.”
Sturgeon was in here element – “I am always delighted to talk about independence, but there is a constitutional issue that is more immediately pressing right now.
“In just 22 days—three weeks’ tomorrow—Scotland is due to be taken out of the European Union against our will. There is still no sign of an agreement on withdrawal issues, no guarantee of a transitional phase and no clarity on our future relationship.”
The First Minister invited Jackson Carlaw, left, to tell the Prime Minister, Theresa May, “to stop asking people to choose between catastrophe and disaster, and instead takes a no-deal Brexit off the table now”.
He that “just a few short years ago, when she and her predecessor were telling us that it was Scotland’s pound and nobody was going to take it.
“Who would have thought that, five years on, the only people who want to take away Scotland’s pound are the Scottish National Party?”
The SNP’s deputy leader. John Swinney, had revealed that his party’s new plan is to ditch the pound and set up a completely new and untried currency.
And he put the question: “For any home owner who has a mortgage in pounds and, overnight, a salary paid in a new, untried currency, are mortgage payments going to go up or down?”
The First Minister said that until a democratically elected Scottish Parliament in an independent Scotland decided to change things, people would continue to use the pound,” which of course is Scotland’s currency, just as it is the currency of anywhere else in the UK.
“Jackson Carlaw confidently talks about what people in Scotland want. The way to determine what people in Scotland want is to allow them to choose in a referendum.
“The Tories are so scared that people would choose independence at the next time of asking that they want to block them having that choice. That is deeply anti-democratic.”
Confusing her with his own boss, Mr Carlaw said: “The problem is that this First Minister just does not listen. There is no majority support for a second independence referendum. If the currency were changed … people would still be tied into mortgages or car loans, but they would be paying them off in an untried, unknown and as yet unnamed new currency—a clear risk of people paying more. That is the plan that the First Minister’s deputy leader launched this week.
“Worse still, today we read in the papers that the First Minister’s deputy is also plotting another referendum on independence, no matter whether it is legal or not.
“Another independence referendum is the last thing that Scotland needs. Irrespective of the views of her errant deputy, will the First Minister rule out that divisive plan?”
Ms Sturgeon refused, of course – “The legal basis for the next independence referendum should be the same as the basis for the last independence referendum. We are talking about the issue only because of the disgracefully anti-democratic stance of the Conservatives, who refuse to recognise a mandate that was won at not just one but two elections and which was endorsed by this Parliament. We can always tell when the Tories are in trouble, because pantomime Jackson Carlaw makes a reappearance. The face gets red and the arms get waved about.”
She added:” The position of Labour and the Tories on these questions is utterly ridiculous. Remember that in 2014 they told us that an independent Scotland could not use sterling in a currency union.
“Now they tell us that we cannot use sterling without a currency union, and they tell us that we cannot have our own currency either.
“Scotland must be the only country in the entire world that could not have any currency—that is ridiculous and the people of Scotland know it.
“Let me tell Richard Leonard [the Labour leader] exactly what the position will be in an independent Scotland. Until a democratically elected Scottish Parliament decides otherwise, we will use the pound, which is our currency just as it is the currency of other parts of the United Kingdom.”
The First Minister wound up: “If Scotland was independent right now, we would not be facing being taken out of the European Union against our will three weeks’ tomorrow.
“Right now, it is because Scotland is not independent that we have to put up with a Tory Government that we did not vote for.
“It is because Scotland is not independent that we face being ripped out of the EU against our will. Until Richard Leonard and Scottish Labour find it within themselves to stand up for Scotland instead of standing up for the continuation of Tory rule, the party will never recover in Scotland, and it will never deserve to recover in Scotland.”