It would be folly for Scotland to remain within a debt-ridden UK Friday 29 August 2014 WE keep being told by UK ministers and Better Together spokesmen that Scotland will be much better off financially and economically within the safety and security of the United Kingdom. Well, lets look at a few facts about how safe and secure Britains financial position is, and what may happen in the next few years. The UK national debt currently stands at around £1.3 trillion and is still rising. That figure does not include the £900 billion the Government borrowed to save the banks from collapse, nor of course does it include the massive amount of personal debt of the population in mortgages, loans and credit card interest. The interest on the national debt is costing the UK Treasury about £1bn a week, and if the interest on the banks bail-out was included that would raise the borrowing cost to around £70bn a year - more than the entire annual budgets of UK defence and education combined. And for some years the current international borrowing rates have been at relatively low levels - around two per cent compared with the more normal five per cent. If rates began to climb Britain would have to find even more annual cash, and the country would be standing on the brink of major financial collapse. Before the Greek economy collapsed it was borrowing at around one per cent - even less than the UK - but when it was no longer able to repay its debt mountain the interest rate shot up to 13 per cent within one year, the whole country imploded and was saved only by massive support from the rest of the European Union because it was part of the eurozone, which Britain is not. The UK faces huge financial problems just in continuing to meet the annual interest on its national debt, never mind repaying the capital. Even with the current apparent improvement in the economy (much of which is due to the latest housing bubble rather than real growth) there is little or no chance of it being able to repay any significant amount in the foreseeable future. The conclusion is, therefore, that Scotland would be much safer and more secure outside the United Kingdom rather than within it. And if denied any share of UK assets and therefore absolved from liability for its debts, our own national economy would have a much better chance of enjoying real and positive growth. The most perilous place to be would be remaining in a United Kingdom buried under an increasing mountain of unrepayable debt. Iain AD Mann, Glasgow.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:36:33 +0000
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