Should Scotland Choose Independence? NO

by Harry Purcell

I personally believe that Scotland should remain as a part of the UK for the following reasons:

1 - If Scotland leaves, then the currency that they will use will be uncertain. This is because Scottish politicians would want to keep the pound whereas politicians in London are not keen on the idea. An option that they could take is to join the euro. However this will mean that their monetary policy will be controlled by the Frankfurt-based ECB, which could mean that changes in the monetary policy may not positively affect their economy.

2- If Scotland were to become its own nation, many businesses may leave the country. There would be economic instability which would arise from potentially developing its own currency and trying to gain an E.U. membership. Loss of businesses will decrease the amount of economic activity in Scotland as there would be fewer jobs available and fewer contributions to aggregate demand through consumption and investment.

3 - Finally, the UK has a lot, approximately 1.5 trillion by the time of the vote, of debt owed to foreign countries, some of which Scotland is responsible for. An agreement would have to be made which could take a long time. The treasury say that a population split of the UK’s national debt would leave Scotland a debt of 74% of its GDP.  They also estimate that the start-up cost for Scotland will be approximately £1.5 billion. It is clear that from this it will be very hard for Scotland to maintain an economy with these costs.