David Cameron is to meet Alex Salmond to discuss plans for a referendum on Scottish independence, it was announced yesterday.
Flying the flag: the saltire flutters proudly in Scotland
Downing Street said arrangements for the meeting between the Prime Minister and Scotland’s First Minister would be made “in the coming days”.
Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, has also asked Mr Salmond for a meeting in Edinburgh this Thursday.
A No10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has made it clear he is happy to meet Alex Salmond and arrangements for that will be made in the coming days. However, he also believes the First Minister should accept the invitation to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland on Thursday to discuss his views on the consultation process.”
A spokesman for Mr Salmond said: “This is a very welcome development, and represents real progress. We look forward to these meetings being arranged soon.”
But the First Minister’s spokesman said no talks would go ahead until the publication of a consultation document on his proposals for a referendum, which is due to be published on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr Moore hinted yesterday that Scotland may be able to retain the pound if it became independent. George Osborne, the Chancellor, had previously refused to say whether an independent Scotland would be allowed to retain sterling.
Alistair Darling, the former chancellor, suggested accepting the pound would be a humiliating compromise for Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, who he said favours joining the euro, but is unwilling to push for it as he knows the currency is “toxic” in Scotland.
Appearing on the BBC’s Politics Scotland show yesterday, Mr Moore was asked: “Do you accept that Scotland has the legal right to continue using sterling post independence?”
He replied: “I don’t think there’s a legal problem with that. But you do have to think about the consequences of who would set interest rates, about what it would mean for your spending plans and your borrowing plans and routinely when I’ve heard senior nationalists, including the First Minister, asked about this point, they don’t actually get on to that.”
Stewart Hosie, the Scottish Nationalists’ Treasury spokesman, conceded that monetary policy and public borrowing would be set south of the border if an independent Scotland retained the pound as its currency.
The SNP’s plan to keep sterling would mean the Bank of England continuing to control the supply of money in Scotland. It would set the cost of mortgages and borrowing with no reference to the needs of the Scottish economy. Mr Hosie told Sunday Politics: “It may be called the Bank of England, but it’s the UK central bank. With independence, yes, there’s the discipline of the interest rates set by the central bank, but we would have complete control over all the fiscal levers.”
However, Mr Hosie did not contest that the Bank of England would also control borrowing and influence spending. He added: “I wouldn’t imagine any future Scottish government of any persuasion would want to over-borrow.”
Mr Darling told the same programme that a separate Scotland might theoretically be able to keep sterling, but said: “Its interest rates would be fixed by the governor of a bank in what would then be a foreign country. It seems to me to be an absolutely ludicrous position to get yourself into, where you have a currency and don’t actually control monetary policy.”
He said the Treasury would insist on eurozone-style rules to prevent Scottish ministers running up large deficits or altering tax rates markedly from those in the remainder of the UK.
In a separate interview with a Sunday newspaper, Gordon Brown’s former chancellor said independence raised the prospect of Scotland being left with “immense” handicaps, such as part of RBS’s £130 billion liabilities.
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said the rest of the UK would become Scotland’s “biggest business competitor” following separation. “What the SNP is proposing is our biggest business competitor sets our interest rates, our spending and borrowing limits,” the Glasgow Central MP said. “If not, we join the euro and Brussels does it.”
Alistair Darling, the former chancellor, suggested accepting the pound would be a humiliating compromise for Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, who he said favours joining the euro, but is unwilling to push for it as he knows the currency is “toxic” in Scotland.
Appearing on the BBC’s Politics Scotland show yesterday, Mr Moore was asked: “Do you accept that Scotland has the legal right to continue using sterling post independence?”
He replied: “I don’t think there’s a legal problem with that. But you do have to think about the consequences of who would set interest rates, about what it would mean for your spending plans and your borrowing plans and routinely when I’ve heard senior nationalists, including the First Minister, asked about this point, they don’t actually get on to that.”
Stewart Hosie, the Scottish Nationalists’ Treasury spokesman, conceded that monetary policy and public borrowing would be set south of the border if an independent Scotland retained the pound as its currency.
The SNP’s plan to keep sterling would mean the Bank of England continuing to control the supply of money in Scotland. It would set the cost of mortgages and borrowing with no reference to the needs of the Scottish economy. Mr Hosie told Sunday Politics: “It may be called the Bank of England, but it’s the UK central bank. With independence, yes, there’s the discipline of the interest rates set by the central bank, but we would have complete control over all the fiscal levers.”
However, Mr Hosie did not contest that the Bank of England would also control borrowing and influence spending. He added: “I wouldn’t imagine any future Scottish government of any persuasion would want to over-borrow.”
Mr Darling told the same programme that a separate Scotland might theoretically be able to keep sterling, but said: “Its interest rates would be fixed by the governor of a bank in what would then be a foreign country. It seems to me to be an absolutely ludicrous position to get yourself into, where you have a currency and don’t actually control monetary policy.”
He said the Treasury would insist on eurozone-style rules to prevent Scottish ministers running up large deficits or altering tax rates markedly from those in the remainder of the UK.
In a separate interview with a Sunday newspaper, Gordon Brown’s former chancellor said independence raised the prospect of Scotland being left with “immense” handicaps, such as part of RBS’s £130 billion liabilities.
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, said the rest of the UK would become Scotland’s “biggest business competitor” following separation. “What the SNP is proposing is our biggest business competitor sets our interest rates, our spending and borrowing limits,” the Glasgow Central MP said. “If not, we join the euro and Brussels does it.”
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