Independent, defenceless and broke

Calton listened to last night's debate rammy on the radio while simultaneously trying to follow it on twitter. Not being very good at multi-tasking, he therefore missed some of the finer points of the argument but he couldn't help noticing the persistent use of the phrase "sovereign will of the Scottish people" and the word "mandate" by Alex Salmond. The First Minister is obviously trying to strengthen his negotiating hand on the currency union he so desires if there is a yes vote. He was also very clear that, if he doesn't get a currency union, he will walk away from Scotland's share of the UK's debt. Now, turning his argument on its head, if an independent Scotland were to refuse to take a share of the debt, what's to stop the rUK hanging on to all the assets? The roar of RAF Typhoons as they pass overhead on their way south over the border would be matched by the cheers from the workforce at Portsmouth and the corresponding wails from Rosyth. Starting life as an independent country with no debt may seem like an attractive option but we would also have no air force, no navy, no embassies, no central bank and just you try getting credit without a credit (i.e. debt) history! Salmond managed to score points off Darling on child poverty but he would have little chance of making a better fist of it in an indy Scotland with no money. In terms of shouting down his opponent, Alex won last night's debate but in terms of providing real and realistic answers, he lost.

The devil is in the detail

If Nicola Sturgeon is serious about wanting the people of Scotland to make an "informed choice" about independence she should get her head down and make sure that the Scottish Government's much-vaunted white paper addresses all the questions raised in CBI Scotland's issues paper on independence, with supporting evidence. Then, and only then, we might get a positive debate on the subject rather than a load of old assertions. At the moment, Calton has to agree with Alistair Darling when he says that the Nationalists have "not thought through their answers to the really big questions". Calton doesn't think they have thought through their answers to the small and medium sized questions either. And we all know that the devil is in the detail.