Letters to the Editor – 20/02 – Scots currency, Best of Twitter
Scots currency
[Re: Could fears over their future currency sway the Scottish people against independence?, Tuesday]
The three main Westminster parties have ruled out a currency union with an independent Scotland. But the stability of sterling and access to the UK and EU markets are vital to support continued confidence in the Scottish business community. And confidence is key to growth and job creation. Replicating this stability within an independent Scotland would be challenging. The strong fiscal agreements and deep banking union required to make a currency union work were never on the table from the Yes campaign. The Eurozone crisis illustrated the damaging effects of not having these structures. Only a vote to stay in the Union offers the stability that businesses need to drive growth and deliver a more prosperous Scotland.
Neil Carberry, director, employment and skills group, Confederation of British Industry
[Re: The small state game changer: We can transform Britain in four stages, yesterday]
Graeme Leach’s plan is a big gamble. Eliminating pension tax relief in order to lower income tax risks exacerbating the UK’s saving crisis by removing the incentive to save for retirement. Unless the supply-side growth boost is huge, it could backfire.
John Adenuga
………………..
BEST OF TWITTER
Signs of a pick-up? Single month average weekly earnings figures for December were up 1.5 per cent.
@notayesmansecon
Ageing workforce makes jobs recovery hard. UK needs 680,000 more jobs to restore 2008 employment rate.
@jamestplunkett
Lviv region has declared independence from Ukraine. The geopolitics of this is becoming quite nasty.
@MaMoMVPY
Greece hits current account surplus in 2013, the first since 1948.
@nr_zero