On this page:
Currency / Pensions / Access to rUK / Access to EU / Scotland’s Armed Forces / Climate Change / Finance
Currency
Overview —
The decision of the UK to leave the EU has changed the baseline assumptions about many aspects of politics.
This paper re-opens and re-examines the case for each of Scotland’s plausible currency options in the event of independence and weighs the pros and cons of each.
The paper concludes that only the option of Scotland launching a new currency gives sufficient control over macroeconomic and fiscal power and thus should be the policy for any future independence campaign. Credits— Dr Craig Dalzell
Link to full Common Weal PDF Here
Pensions
- Believe in Scotland: UK’s paltry pension can’t provide even the most basic standard of living
Access to rUK
If the rest of UK decided to establish a ‘hard border’ it would be a decision without precedent and would cause major harm to their own citizenry and economy, but if they were to decide to do so it would have to be set up on the rest of UK side of the border and all costs would therefore fall on the rest of UK. This is highly unlikely however, as the attitude of the new Brexit Secretary David Davis MP towards the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border indicates it is in the interests of everyone to avoid a hard border.
Common Weal: An Independent Scotland’s borders and Customs: Principles and Approaches
Scotland’s Armed Forces
An independent Scotland’s present and future threat environment includes serious organised crime, cybercrime, terrorism, social unrest, coercion by state and non-state actors, military threat from a foreign state and natural or man-made disaster. The current threat is predominantly occupied by non-state actors as opposed to any existential or territorial threat. However a defence & security strategy should account for future risk assessment, without indulging a ‘climate of fear’.
Read the Common Weal White Paper – Towards a Defence & Security strategy for an independent Scotland
Climate Change
Finance
Let’s get banking right – from Common Weal