Thursday, August 28, 2014

Scottish independence: Alex Salmond gets angry during SKY TV interview over his currency plans, political journalist Faisal Islam asks ‘would the Bank of England fund Scottish banks under his proposals without a currency union’, the answer is No


















Dear All

It seems that Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond isn’t so jolly after all. Although he managed to achieve a better performance in the BBC debate against Alistair Darling, the SNP campaign is still nowhere near victory.

No Salmond bounce from the Scottish public.

This is possibly the saddest story I will probably write this week.

No matter how much gloss or spin Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon try and use, they can’t answer basic questions on fundamental issues such as currency.

What is Plan B?

The reason for so much interest is that The SNP’s Plan A; a currency union with the UK would be veto by any incoming government after the Westminster 2015 election.

Although ‘Sterlingisation’ has been mooted as an answer, the idea is a stopgap.

Plan A is the Euro for the Scottish National Party!

There are no other plans, it is all just talk, smoke and mirrors.

Currency Union and ‘Sterlingisation’ are ‘carrots’ for the ignorant to nibble on, but no matter who many ‘carrots’ the SNP try and use, their supporters are and will remain blind, blind and ignorant.

The rest of the population aren’t so trusting, hence we get Alex Salmond criticising leading political journalist Faisal Islam who is Sky’s political editor turning the heat up on Salmond.

A clearly upset and rattled Alex Salmond in an interview accused Sky's Faisal Islam of impersonating Alistair Darling after being repeatedly questioned on currency. SNP supporters think that people don’t have the right to ask questions.

We do!

The Monday night didn’t as Salmond claimed settle the issue.

Islam, the former economics editor of Channel 4 News had to ask an unhappy and angry Salmond three times if the Bank of England would fund Scottish banks under his proposal for a separate Scotland to continue using the pound without a currency union.

The answer to that is No!

No, means they will not fund Scottish banks, the upshot of this is, if a Scottish bank goes down, the savers will also lost their entire savings under whatever arrangement Salmond sets up. The banks would not have enough capital to fund having a greater reserve without contracting their businesses.

It is no surprise that Salmond refuses to answer because he then has to admit he is economically illiterate, he didn’t call the Better Together campaign’s bluff. He just continued the deception on the Scottish public. If you look and walk yourself through it, you will see the economic case doesn’t stack up in multiple areas.

On Monday night the First Minister’s attempted to close down the issue by saying he had three Plan B currencies if there was no deal to share the pound. It seems as well as being economically illiterate, he can’t use an Alphabet properly either.

Salmond shouted his way to “victory” on Monday, but the next day, the viewers got to have their say on a BBC Radio Scotland phone-in.

A series of callers said the morning after the debate said they were voting No. They cited continued uncertainty over the currency, at the start of the Scottish independence campaign; I said a Scottish currency had to be planned for as Plan A. You would have a range of options but you would have to spell out the pros and cons so people could make an informed choice.

Salmond argues the main UK parties are bluffing about rejecting his preference for a Eurozone-style currency union, the question is why they should issue Scotland with in effect a blank cheque? The UK takes all the risk and in return they get nothing for it, does that make sense?

I mean stop and think about it for a minute.

Scotland could use the pound unilaterally just like as countries such as Panama use the US dollar. What people need to understand is that the Bank of England would no longer acting as Scotland’s central bank or lender of last resort. The nonsense spun by the SNP leaders is deception, ‘it’s our pound’ is a retread of the failed 1970’s campaign ‘it’s our Oil’. As well as being economically illiterate, they are politically illiterate into the bargain.

Salmond even previously admitted he was willing to use a stopgap but the problem flagged up by one of his most senior economic advisers was it could last as little as six months. That is wishful thinking because it would be several years before an independent Scotland could even get into the EU if at all.

And remember Salmond threatened to not pay Scotland’s share of UK debt. If I was PM of the UK and Scotland’s membership came to vote, I would veto it until all monies and interest was paid up front and in full plus a penalty for each month of non payment.

Sky’s political editor questioned why the Bank of England would support Scottish banks if there was no currency union.

Salmond said:
“You can’t play at being Alistair Darling. He had his chance and he muffed it last night. The currency bluff has been called. The Scottish people are calling that bluff”.

Ignoring that rubbish Islam refused to be deterred, asking him again how Scotland could operate with no lender of last resort.

Salmonnd’s smartarse remark was:

“You cannot now impersonate the No campaign. The No campaign had their chance. People have, I think, overwhelmingly in Scotland now in poll after poll shown that we want to keep the pound. That is the decision that the Scottish people are being asked to make. We're fighting a campaign to get a mandate from the Scottish people on common sense for a common currency. That's what won the debate last night and that's the message that's going to resonate over the next three weeks.”

Salmond ‘won’ not by argument, not by reason but by shouting down Alistair Darling.

In Islam’s third attempt, he pressed him on how Scotland could unilaterally adopt the pound when the Bank of England would not support Scottish banks.

Presumably after having a ‘good night’, Salmond must have thought he was on a roll as he sarcastically asked Islam which channel he had been watching on Monday night when the debate was screened, adding:

“Have a look at what the people thought about it, the audience thought about it, everybody apart from Sky News apparently. Get with the debate, man. The people of Scotland are there; maybe Sky News will catch up.”

On the issue of the 3 B’s, Darling said he would continue to demand “basic answers” to questions on issues like the currency.

The former Chancellor said:

“You can’t have three Plan Bs. You have to make your mind up.”

He added the financial services industry could not “exist” in a separate Scotland without a central bank, something which Salmond doesn’t seem to think is a problem.

Salmond appealed to his hardcore vote on Monday night, he bought himself sometime and breathing space, but the fact remains his performance didn’t win the argument, he couldn’t lay out a plan because if he says ‘Euro’, even his own temporary ‘allies’ would demand his resignation.

Presumably there will be a lot of people in the SNP very pleased with themselves at present, to which I would say look at the polls. They are moving enough to secure victory, although some people are sitting on the fence, they will have to make their minds up.

Although the question is ‘should Scotland be an independent country’, the real question that should focus hearts and minds is:

‘Do you wish to place the entire country in jeopardy?’

The silent majority will Vote No!

You cannot in good conscience vote for Salmond’s proposal to the detriment of the sick, the poor and the vulnerable. I was asked by some friends, ‘was I worried by the outcome of the BBC Debate in Glasgow’?

Nope!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

7 comments:

  1. I think Alistair Darling totally missed the trick around not pressing home the points Faisal Islam and also Charles Kennedy made on the debate on Tuesday, around Bank deposit security, and debt default. Its all in the past now anyway, but YES seem to think that Monday night was the game changer they were looking for. All in all it was a shouting match in front of a baying mob and the 'real' Alex Salmond was exposed with the 'mask slipping'. Most people will I think say 'No thanks' when asked if they want to give carte blanche for their futures to this man. Salmond was looking more graceful since the first debate but the second one has reinflated his ego and he thinks he cant lose. Be interesting to see the next opinion poll but if theres a double digit lead for no in any, then its all over bar the Jolly Fat Man singing.

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  2. I think you are seriously underestimating the YES campaign and I predict at least one poll showing them in the lead in the next 10 days.

    This is an argument between hard economic reality and nationalism. If the Scots were really as canny as they are made out to be then the YES campaign would have been dead in the water long ago.

    Its my opinion that nationalism will trump the former on the 18th.

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  3. Entirely Right Councillor Kelly.

    Watching the 'debate' was depressing, it had all the characteristics of a stairheid rammy.

    As for Mr Salmonds 3 plan B's on currency can be summed up as;

    Bluff

    Bluster

    &

    Blackmail

    He prattles on about the 'Sovereign will' of the Scottish people giving him a mandate to have a currency union.

    Conveniently forgetting the 'Sovereign will' of the people south of the border to refuse a currency union.

    However the Nationalists are not interested in facts, they resemble one of those weird religious cults, where belief is more important than anything else.

    You know the kind, that promise paradise will arrive when the space ships land.

    They are invariably led by a charismatic leader, whose reputation implodes when the space ships fail to turn up.

    Leaving behind the believers who cannot accept that he was wrong, and who descend into paranoid conspiracy theories to explain the leaders demise.

    But when the solution to every problem is independence, I guess there are no such things as consequences.

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  4. Anonymous @ 5.08 PM
    I agree. I think people are seriously underestimating the possibility of the last minute bounce and I am already preparing to remove my pensions and savings from Scotland.

    There is no question that the No campaign has been woeful. Independence is an emotional issue, but their concentration on mostly economic issues was never going to appeal to the poorly educated and, frankly, not very bright lower two quartiles in society. These voters are not worrying over future interest rates or matters of international security. The whole nationalist exercise seems more like a religious millenarianism cult. By blaming the English for every problem in Scotland, playing up the idea that the country has been a repressed colony for 300 years, and suggesting that continued membership of the UK will lead to increasing poverty and exploitation, they have deliberately created a false narrative, but one that appeals to those who wish they had a better life.

    If independence comes I can see a very fractured society. After the initial euphoric bounce of 'freedom' (a concept insulting to those who have really been oppressed), I visualise a country where disappointment sets in, the SNP seeks revenge on its opponents, and people start to leave (like Ireland in the 1920s). Anything that goes wrong will be blamed on the English and the City of London, which seem to occupy the same place in the SNP pantheon as the Jews did in Germany circa 1932.

    Given the SNP's determination to remain in power, I think we will see a continuation of the stitch ups visible in the current Scottish Parliament, such a complete domination of the committees. Excluding political opponents from meaningful criticism and intimidation of other parties may very well continue.

    The sheer nastiness of the Yes campaign and its determination to label its opponents as anti-Scottish suggest we may well end up with the SNP ruling in near-perpetuity (think of Mexico and Turkey). The physical threats and intimidation of No campaigners seen in recent months may well be a foretaste of what will happen in future election campaigns, where the SNP stormtroopers and rent-a-mob crowd will deter opponents from standing or from expressing 'anti-Scottish' views.

    Remember, a patriot is someone who loves his country, while a nationalist is someone who hates other people's countries and blames them for all the faults and shortcomings in society. No which one reminds you of the SNP and its modus operandi?

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  5. A good caller on the morning phone-in totally got him, on whether he will accept a mandate given by rUK's people for their govt to decline a currency union.

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  6. Interesting to me was the comment regarding the use of the euro. Salmond seems desperate to be part of the European Union and membership of this is that a country must have a proven central bank and must use the euro. If you cast your mind back to when Britain joined the Common Market we were forced to accept the common fisheries allowing European countries access to our fisheries. When Salmond says that any country would want our oil possibly he already knows the price of Scotlands entry into Europe.

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  7. I have been shocked at how people in this country have been willing to back this man despite what he has said and done. He has openly admitted that he has admiration for Putin and he has wasted huge amounts of public money on court cases. One to hide evidence that never existed and another to try and prevent the last general election debate being broadcast in Scotland. Freedom of speech anyone? The yes Scots are excusing their behaviour by saying that it is "not about Salmond." It is "everything to do with Salmond." Sadly none of them will listen as they trot forward to a one party state. I can only hope that there are others who can see through him but there is now "bandwagon jumpery"and the gap is closing.

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