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A NOBEL Prize-winning economist has backed the Scottish government’s threat to renege on its proportion of national debt if Westminster refuses to share the pound with an independent Scotland.
All major parties have ruled out a currency union, which the Scottish National Party (SNP) claims is just pre-referendum posturing.
The SNP insists Scotland will keep the pound with the backing of the Bank of England.
Sir James Mirrlees, a Nobel laureate and a member of the Scottish government’s Council of Economic Advisers, has said that “Britain inherits the debt” if it refuses a currency union.
“It is hard to see how Scotland can take on the debt unless there is a full currency union,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“This is implied by the hard line taken by Westminster. It is Scotland’s bargaining position.”
Fellow adviser Crawford Beveridge said last week that it was possible that Scotland could renege on its debt after independence.
