Britain to tell Scotland Lose the pound if you exit UK Reuters
'BULLYING TACTICS'
Scottish nationalists argue that Scotland's development has been stunted by a British economy focused too strongly on London, and that an independent Scotland could flourish drawing on energy resources and technological enterprise.
The SNP said in a statement that the British government had lost the argument against independence and was therefore resorting to bullying tactics in panic.
It said it thought the shift in position on the pound was a bluff and said it might not take on any share of UK debt in the event of independence if it wasn't allowed to use the pound, something it has said before.
"Osborne's position is ... a bluff," said Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's SNP Deputy First Minister.
"It would cost their own businesses hundreds of millions of pounds a year," she said. "It would blow a massive hole in their balance of payments and it would leave them having to pick up the entirety of UK debt."
Sturgeon suggested Britain would be powerless to stop an independent Scotland using the pound.
"We have set out a reasonable case that we should continue to use our pound because it is ours as much as it is anybody else's," she said. "Neither George Osborne nor anyone else can stop Scotland using the pound."
Analysts say an independent Scotland would not need to ask London for permission to use the pound but would then have the status of a country like Ecuador which uses the U.S. dollar but has no say over Washington's monetary policy.
Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and other major financial institutions based in Edinburgh, have begun contingency planning in case of independence, Reuters reported on Friday.
Industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday a key part of that planning is what they will do in the event of a currency union not being agreed. RBS, Lloyds and Standard Life declined to comment.