THE author of the SNP’s new blueprint for independence has insisted that what will be most important in the early years of an independent Scotland would be economic substance and stability not the “symbol” of having its own currency.
Andrew Wilson, who chaired the party’s Sustainable Growth Commission, declared that “all of the risks for Scotland are in doing nothing,” and said Brexit had not been factored into his report because no one knew what the outcome would be.
On the key topic of currency, Mr Wilson told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland the “beauty” of retaining Sterling in the early years of independence was the stability it created, allowing the Scottish Government to focus on its priorities.
Accepting that an independent Scotland, in the early years, would not have control over monetary policy - ie the setting of interest rates and the control of inflation – he said: “What we weigh up are the priorities for Scotland in the early days and, of course, we argue it is to get growth going and put the public finances we inherit from the UK on a sound footing and to reach for long-term generational improvement.”
While transitioning to its own currency would be a mark of an independent Scotland’s success, Mr Wilson explained: “We recognise we have to provide stability for jobs, for people’s mortgages and then focus our attention, not on the symbols, but on the substance of where we can make a difference; long-term economic policy, attracting people to come and live in the country and giving ourselves a chance over a generation to work for a better society.”
He said the Commission showed that, without making wild predictions on annual growth, an independent Scotland in its first decade would reject austerity, grow public finances and instil fiscal discipline.
The Commission chief referred to how larger countries “got economic policy wrong” while smaller ones had to be cleverer and more adaptable but all the evidence of the small countries looked at, like those in Scandinavia, showed they had “higher living standards and better and more coherent societies”.
Dean Lockhart for the Scottish Conservatives, noting how there was an SNP conference in two weeks’ time, said the report was just about “reopening the debate on independence that was settled four years ago”.
He told the programme it highlighted the downsides of “massive austerity,” which would ensue because of the need to cut the budget deficit and build up reserves for a new Central Bank.
Jackie Baillie for Scottish Labour argued the report was not a blueprint for independence “because what we would face to get to, in 25 years, the batch of small countries he has picked is decades of austerity of the kind we have not seen”.
She claimed there were more risks for smaller countries in managing their economies. Noting how the Scottish Government’s own Fiscal Commission predicted growth of just one per cent, she said: “Risk in small countries is much harder to manage; you would need substantial reserves.”
Noting how risk in bigger countries was much more manageable, she added: “There is less risk and more opportunity remaining part of the UK with a Labour Government, which wants to grow the economy for everyone’s benefit.”
The Sunday Herald reported a key section in the Growth Commission is identical to an old New Zealand Treasury paper from 10 years ago, but no credit was given to the original author.
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