Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has outlined her government’s economic prospectus for an independent Scotland, addressing issues such as currency, trade, freedom of movement and the border with England.
The paper is the third instalment in a series of documents that are being published with the aim of holding a second independence referendum on October 19, 2023.
On currency, Sturgeon said that an independent Scotland would maintain the pound sterling in the “practicable” short-term and then move to a Scottish pound when the “time is right”.
The SNP's Sustainable Growth Commission said in 2018 that six key conditions would need to be satisfied before Scotland could move toward using its own currency, with projections that it could take roughly ten years to do so.
The economic prospectus, title “Building a new Scotland”, reduces the number of key tests to three but does not provide any timetable on how long it could take to satisfy them.
It does, however, state that the Scottish government would create an independent central bank and a new debt management office. The role currently held by the UK-wide Office for Budget Responsibility – the spending watchdog for the government – would be handed to the Scottish Fiscal Commission.
The prospectus also outlines how Scotland would apply to join the EU as an independent country and join the Schengen zone, bringing in a new migration policy to boost the Scottish workforce.
Although an independent Scotland would remain in the UK Common Travel Area, the prospectus does concede that there will be physical border checks on goods that move on the two main routes between England and Scotland. Similar checks at rail freight terminals are also likely to be enforced.
Sturgeon said: “Any talk of passports to visit relatives in England is utter nonsense. Free movement of people across our islands will continue as before. An independent Scotland will also be gaining free movement across 27 other countries.
“None of this, none of this is insurmountable, but it does require proper planning.”
Sturgeon also indicated that the Scottish government would take on UK debt in the event of independence and has a “moral” responsibility to do so.
“In light of that, and indeed our desire for a strong future partnership between Scottish and UK governments, we would seek a fair settlement on both debt and assets,” she said.
Sturgeon also talked up how Scotland could cash in on “vast renewable energy potential” and break free of austerity and trade barriers if it were to achieve independence.
She said: “Without independence, Scotland will face austerity, trade barriers and narrowed horizons as a result of Brexit. All of it exacerbated by increasingly dysfunctional Westminster decision-making.”
Meanwhile, the UK government has remained firm in its stance that now is not the time for a second independence vote, with a Westminster spokesperson suggesting that Scotland is benefiting from being part of the UK and will continue to do so through the winter energy support package.
“People in Scotland want their governments to be focused on the issues that matter to them - growing our economy, ensuring our energy security, tackling the cost of living and supporting our friends in Ukraine against Russian aggression,” the spokesperson said.
Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, attacked the prospectus and said that it “illustrates just how thin the economic case for independence is”.
Ross said: “The SNP are trying to sell Scotland a pig in a poke. It's completely the wrong priority at the worst possible time for Scotland.”
The Scottish Labour Party called on the SNP to “drop the spin” on independence and “come clean with people about the catastrophic reality of their economic plans”.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, said that the plan would bring “years of chaos” and was a raft of “the same pie-in-the-sky promises” made by Brexiteers, which threatened to ‘”cut Scotland off from its biggest trading partner”.
Cole-Hamilton continued: “She (Sturgeon) refused to admit her proposals would leave Scotland outside both the UK and the EU for an untold number of years.
“Nor can she tell the public how Scotland would build up the necessary foreign currency reserves for her plans to ditch the pound.”
In the backdrop, the UK Supreme Court is continuing to consider whether the Scottish Parliament has the legal clout to hold a second independence referendum without consent from Westminster.
The Lord Advocate of Scotland has suggested that an advisory, non-legally binding vote could be held, which would not have a direct impact on Scotland’s place in the UK. However, the UK government has argued that the case is related to the UK constitution which remains under Westminster’s jurisdiction, and therefore holding any referendum is above Holyrood’s authority.
Photo by Scottish Government on Wikimedia Commons
