What a load of b*****s

Calton would like to thank all his readers for contributing to this blog reaching over 10,000 pageviews since it started. He is back in cold but sunny Edinburgh, just in time to avoid singeing his wings in Lochaber. Who would have thought that Fort William could be so dry? Anyway, it's back to the same old same old here in the capital, with John Swinney still singing the praises of a currency union with England in the event of a 'yes' vote next year. He continues to think that an independent Scottish government would have the full fiscal and economic freedom to vary tax and spending to deliver economic growth and to serve the best interests of the Scottish economy in such a union. Bankers to that - Ron MacLeod and Hamish Patrick to be precise.

Settling for Plan B

Calton is indebted to the First Minister for explaining the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy at FMQs today, however he is not sure if Alex answered Johann Lamont's question, namely, does the First Minister have a Plan B if the Bank of England doesn't give us good terms on Sterling? Calton is also not so sure that you can separate fiscal and monetary policy quite so easily as the First Minister seemed to be suggesting. Granted, the Bank of England is nominally independent of Westminster, however the inflation target which it is trying to meet is set by Westminster and, should one be in any doubt about the link between the Chancellor and the BofE, the former gave the latter a new remit yesterday in the Budget. Would the Chancellor of an independent Scotland be able to do the same? What if the two Chancellors do not agree on monetary policy? Under the SNP's plans, Scotland would be able to set taxes and spending levels but would not be in control of interest rates, inflation or the money supply. Perhaps Johann is putting her question the wrong way round - why are the SNP settling for Plan B for an independent Scotland when we could have a Plan A?

The penny is dropping

Nice to see that the penny has finally dropped regarding Scotland's currency post-independence in quarters other than Calton's eyrie. Sadly, Bute House is not one of them. Our First Minister still clings to the idea that we can keep Sterling if independent and share the Bank of England with England. One would have thought that the name of the bank would give Alex a clue as to where its loyalties lie but no, in his hubris he thinks he will be able to tell it what to do. What utter nonsense. Yet another SNP policy built on the shifting sands of assertion rather than the rock of reality.

What do they take us for?

It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious - Alistair Darling makes a very pertinent point about monetary union eventually leading to political union and all the SNP can say in return is that "Dozens of countries have become independent from Westminster since 1945, and none have chosen to return to London rule." Yes, but how many of those countries retained Sterling? Not very many. Either the SNP are a bunch of thickos who can't understand basic economic principles or else they think that we are. The latter would tie in with their arrogant attitude when it comes to listening to the people of Scotland. It may well fall on deaf ears as far as the Scottish Government are concerned however Calton would like to say again that full independence can only be achieved with our own central bank and our own currency. To suggest anything else is nonsense.

As clear as mud

A spokesman for the SNP is reported as saying that there is a "fundamental distinction" between monetary policy and fiscal policy. Is Calton the only one struggling to work out what that distinction is? Given that the spokesman doesn't seem to have enlarged upon his comment, do the SNP know what the distinction is? Or is this just more ill-informed, seat-of-the-pants waffle designed to thoroughly bamboozle the Scottish electorate? It certainly isn't engendering confidence up in Calton's eyrie that the SNP actually know what they are talking about when it comes to monetary/fiscal policy. A Treasury spokesman has said that the Scottish government's proposals remain "totally unclear". You can't get much clearer than that as a vote of no confidence. And the SNP want us to trust them with the economy of an independent Scotland? Calton would rather have mud in his eye.

It takes two to tango

Alex Salmond's arrogance really is becoming insupportable. All three opposition leaders asked relevant and reasonable questions at today's FMQs and none of them got a decent reply. Calton is particularly concerned about the SNP leader's tendency to brand anyone who dares question the wisdom of independence as a denigrator of Scotland. Cheap shot Eck. Johann Lamont was quite right to question the SNP's hopes of having an influence on the MPC in the event of Scotland becoming independent and wishing to continue using Sterling. Has the First Minister, in his hubris, forgotten that it takes two to tango and that there is the small matter of getting the rest of the UK to agree to us using Sterling to be overcome? Indeed, the Treasury has said that an independent Scotland which retained the pound would "create similar risks to those we see in the Eurozone", which is not going to instill confidence in a monetary union amongst our southern neighbours. If they have any sense, they will tell us to get lost. If Alex had any sense he would stop grandstanding on shaky foundations and get down to some serious discussions with Westminster.

Sack the lot of them

After the childish behaviour displayed by our elected representatives during First Minister's Questions today, Calton thinks we might be better scrapping Holyrood and putting the lot of them on the dole. The thought of that rabble running an independent Scotland is certainly not an attractive one. Yet again, Alex Salmond did not give proper answers to any questions relating to the actual issues raised by independence, such as defence and monetary union, and yet again, Ruth Davidson and Johann Lamont failed to pin him down. The Labour leader was the one who came closest when she said that the First Minister wanted 'independence at any cost'. Quite. Why let the facts get in the way of your ambitions? It took Ms Lamont a while to get to her punchline about Alex Salmond being the 'Fred Goodwin of Scottish politics' but the comparison is apt. Hopefully it will not also be prophetic, for Scotland's sake.

Die another day - maybe

It was nice to see Alex Salmond being forced to answer some questions about what independence would actually mean in First Minister's Questions today. Johann Lamont is shaping up to be a reasonable opponent for Alex, with Ruth Davidson providing good backup. Sadly, neither of them quite managed to pin Alex down as he twisted and turned over the issue of monetary policy. He hid behind the fact that Westminster politicians no longer set the Bank of England interest rate while completely ignoring the fact that they do set the inflation target that the BofE has to meet. Had either Johann or Ruth picked him up on that it would have been a killer blow. Unfortunately neither of them did and so the First Minister lives to fight another day. You're going to have to do a bit better than that, ladies!