Can an independent Scotland keep the pound?

Feb 12, 2014, 06:28 PM

700 years ago England and Scotland were at war. England under King Edward II was intent on creating what might have been an early forerunner of the British empire. An empire within the British Isles. The Scots had other ideas. They fought a catchweight contest which culminated in the battle of Bannockburn. The flower of Scotland sent proud Edward's army home to think again. Fast forward from the 14th century to the 21st and battle lines have been drawn again. Scottish first minister Alex Salmond is the modern day Robert Bruce, David Cameron - proud Edward. But the modern day battle for Scots independence is one - not of blood and battle axes - but for hearts and minds. So how do you persuade a legion of potentially wavering Scots voters that their future lies either in preserving the union with the rest of Britain...or going it alone as a sovereign nation? And it's money which could be the key. Would an independent Scotland be able to keep its British currency - the pound sterling? No - say voices from England. Not on your nelly. Going it alone means going it alone - Scotland will have to find its own currency. The Scots have accused Westminster politicians of bullying. Stewart Hosie is a Scottish Nationalist MP and he thinks Scotland will be just fine. So the UK chancellor George Osborne is likely to say an independent Scotland cannot be part of a currency union once it's no longer part of a political union but is such a notion really so unworkable or unthinkable? Roger Bootle is from Capital Economics and he’s less than enthusiastic