I WRITE in response to your piece in Sunday’s edition, “Greens stress need to ‘avoid rushing into new Scots currency’” and the carelessness of Mr Greer’s comments: “Nailing down a specific date and time now wouldn’t be a responsible way to actually go about delivering that new currency so I don’t think it would help us win the referendum either because it wouldn’t demonstrate the kind of responsible management of monetary policy the responsible management of a new currency of state finances et cetera.”
I’m certainly no economist, nor do I think is Mr Greer – I had thought Patrick Harvie was the Scottish Greens’ spokesperson on finance and the constitution – however I’m not buying his proposition for the simple reason that I lack confidence in his expertise, his party and the political class in general.
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With the easily accessible encyclopaedia of material, I put my faith in the collective wisdom of the new Yes movement given the admirable talents of Believe in Scotland, the Scottish Currency Group, Scottish Sovereignty Research Group and Common Weal. An undoubtedly great resource but a sad reflection on the gulf in the independence movement between the foot soldiers and the generals.
An independent currency for a new Scotland has to be a given. The experiences of both Argentina (1998) and Greece (2007-15 ) of operating with a currency not under their management are salutary experiences for an independent Scotland as she steps onto the world stage. And besides, given the fragility of the pound with Trusseconomics, who knows where it will end up when the UK economy is depleted by the loss of Scotland’s contribution.
Scotland’s marine zone would be among the richest in the world in terms of fisheries, marine biodiversity, and carbon capture. There will be a new energy horizon to create and export energy from onshore, offshore wind, hydrogen generation, solar and pumped hydro to provide electricity at a lower cost than nuclear or gas power plants, which the UK relies on. Then there are life sciences, the space sector and the gaming industry, quite apart from food and drink exports.
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Surely we’ve learned the lesson that we are the only country in the world to become poorer having discovered oil in its waters, and now we need not to be mealy-mouthed but confidently assert ourselves given our combined riches of an educated and talented people and renewable energy.
No doubt the Sustainable Growth Commission brigade will try to drown out those of us seeking a better alternative to neo-con economics and the overpowering influence of the markets in our collective futures.
However, what this vital discussion needs is not shouting across the void but a willingness to close that void in constructive dialogue. Merely flying unidentified kites on a piece of string of indeterminate length is not the way forward.
Iain Bruce
Nairn
I HAVE great respect for the Green Party. They have come up with many sensible and desirable policies for an independent Scotland, but the last posting of Ross Greer’s take on a Scottish currency in The National on Sunday is, quite frankly, disastrous.
Your story says: “Not rushing into creating a new currency or tying the development of a Scottish Pound to arbitrary timescales is vital for the independence movement to win over undecided voters, the Scottish Greens have insisted”.
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So, Mr Greer proposes that using the failing currency of a foreign country for an indetermined time is preferable? The major point of becoming independent is to have the full set of levers to manage the fiscal affairs of our country. The whole drift of his article made out that it will be complicated and difficult to establish a Scottish currency, but this is completely untrue. Yes, there will be challenges, but there will be a period of up to three years between the declaration of independence and the final negotiations with rUK, plenty of time to establish a currency. This must be in place on the first day of actual independence, so that we can act like a truly independent country.
Two very important matters need to be dealt with before a referendum or plebiscite election, so that people know what they are voting for. We need to have a written constitution and an agreed process for establishing a Scottish currency. Grassroots organisations have provided both of these, namely scottishconstitution.scot and scotishindependencemovement.scot/clean-currency. The independence-promoting political parties of all persuasions should engage with these organisations and begin serious preparations for independence.
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Nobody said that becoming independent would be easy, but that is not an argument for taking no action.
We should be behaving as much as possible like an independent country now, not feebly kicking the currency can down the road for fear of frightening the undecided. They need to informed, not patronised.
Tony Perridge
Inverness
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