Indyref: MPs Claim No Currency Union "Final"

Westmister Committee says the idea of a pound-share in the event of independence is "dead".

'No present or future Chancellor or Government could enter into a currency union without totally destroying both their political and economic credibility.'

That's the finding of a report on independence by the Scottish Affairs Select Committee.

The group, which is made up entirely of pro-union MPs, wants the SNP to publish a 'Plan B' on currency.

Labour's Ian Davidson MP, Chair of the Committee, said:

“There will be no currency union between a separate Scotland and the continuing United Kingdom. No currency union of any kind: no ifs, no buts, no fudges, no deals. We have had complete clarity and openness on this from George Osbourne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander: from the leadership of the three main political parties in the United Kingdom. There is no shadow of doubt. All were unequivocal. 

“The Scottish Government tries to give the impression that a currency union is still a possibility. It is not. This parrot is dead.
 
“Now voters urgently need to be told what the Scottish Government has as a Plan B.
 
“The Scottish Government must now explain how it can keep all its other promises; on defence, jobs, pensions and everything else, while financing them with some kind of new untried currency in an uncertain economic and political environment.
 
“No one will be more concerned about this than the financial services sector in Scotland, which is a major part of Scotland’s economy, and a major provider of jobs in Scotland. If the Scottish Government won’t be honest about the economic and financial future of a separate Scotland I am glad we have been able to put these facts finally into the public domain.”

'Lame Report'

The SNP has previously said the refusal to share the pound is a negotiating tactic to put Scots off voting Yes in the referendum.

A spokesperson for First Minister Alex Salmond said, "An independent Scotland will keep the pound - as conceded by the unnamed UK minister caught telling the truth by saying 'of course' there will be a currency union.

"The pound is as much Scotland's as it is England, Wales and Northern Ireland's.

"And the fact a group of anti-independence Westminster MPs feel the need to issue a lame report like this shows just how vulnerable the No campaign have become on this issue."