Nats back Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to axe pound post-indy despite expert’s warning it would cost votes during referendum
The party ultimately backed the plan but only after tweaking the leadership’s policy to urge Ms Sturgeon to fast-track the switch
NATS are backing Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to axe the pound post-indy - despite an expert’s warning that it would cost them votes during a referendum.
Delegates at the party’s spring conference voted in favour of axing the Pound after an independence win — in a U-turn from the 2014 policy of a “sterling union” with the UK.
But warnings were made during a debate that the First Minister’s plan to introduce the move only after “six economic tests” are met would backfire — as voters would want clarity over when the switch happens.
Former SNP MP and economist George Kerevan warned that members would have to “sell the plan on doorsteps” — and slated the “vague” proposal to keep sterling unofficially for an unknown period.
Mr Kerevan told a packed party conference in Edinburgh at the EICC: “Scottish voters are canny — and they are going to ask you this question, ‘OK SNP, you have voted to have your own Scottish currency, when are you going to introduce it?’
“Then you’ll get your six tests out and you will say, ‘When we’ve got through all of these.’
“And they will not be convinced. The problem is a practical, not political, one. If you want to have a currency then you are going to have to tell them when. Leaving the door open will lose votes, not gain them.”
The move follows a Survation poll which revealed three quarters of Scots want to keep the Pound — with just 12 per cent vying for a new currency.
The party ultimately backed the plan — complete with the six tests — but only after tweaking the leadership’s policy to urge Ms Sturgeon to fast-track the switch.
In the defeat for party chiefs, members voted 781 to 729 to delete a clause from the overall plan which said a final decision on the currency should be taken by Holyrood “by the end of the first term of an independent parliament”.
Instead, it was replaced by a line which said a new system of notes and coins should be made ready as soon as possible after independence.
Tories claimed the party was “divided as ever” on currency, while Labour and the Lib Dems said the overall plan would lead to big cuts to public spending.
But Nats deputy Keith Brown hit back: “Our party now sees the balance of advantage in a careful, managed and responsible transition to an independent currency. It is our ambition to move to a new currency. This is a significant and important policy choice.
“Until this can be achieved safely and securely, our currency will remain the Pound sterling.”
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay also hailed the outcome. He told the conference: “We are at a defining moment, where the case for independence has never been stronger and we are also winning the economic argument.
“The plan is a crystal-clear economic case to take the nation. It’s a plan that reassures, inspires and offers optimism in and for Scotland.”
YES 'IS DOABLE'
DEPUTY First Minister John Swinney has said Nats can stage and win a second indy vote because they are the party “that does the impossible”.
He insisted the UK Government’s stance ruling out another referendum could change.
He recalled his party had been told they would never get in power, adding: “We did that three times already. You’ll never win in the Labour heartlands? We’ve done that too.
“And there aren’t any Labour heartlands any longer.
“They now say you cannot have another independence referendum and won’t win it if you do. My message is simple — we’ll soon see about that.”
To win independence, he said the party needed “to listen to views that are not ours, to find common ground and to put in place a message of hope”.
Meanwhile, the Education Secretary’s colleague Rona Mackay told teachers she “wouldn’t do your job for all the money in the world” at a fringe event.
The audience heard 71 per cent are considering quitting — and 76 per cent branded pupil indiscipline an issue.
In yesterday’s heated two-hour debate, Mr Kerevan claimed an indy Scotland wouldn’t be able to borrow and invest on the scale required to be economically successful until it controlled currency.
Academic Dr Tim Rideout also warned Scotland would have “no lender of last resort” until it had a new central bank and currency.
He added: “We would not have real independence, we would have risk. And EU rules mean that if you don’t have your own currency, you can’t rejoin the EU.”
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Tory Murdo Fraser said: “What this shows is they have to convince Scotland and the other half of their party.”
Anti-indy Scotland in Union chief Pamela Nash blasted: “This will be deeply unpopular with the overwhelming majority of Scotland”.
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