IndyRef2: Martin Geissler compares Scottish Independence to Brexit

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Scotland’s Deputy Minister John Swinney was grilled over the SNP’s economic case for Scotland to join the European Union, with the BBC Sunday Show’s host Martin Geissler saying the vote would look like the 2016 Brexit referendum. Nicola Sturgeon unveiled the economic case for an independent Scotland but refused to put a timeline on how long Scotland would need to use the pound sterling, how long it might take to establish a new currency or how long it would be before Scotland joined the EU. She also acknowledged she was not able to tackle central questions until the independence process is underway.

While Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney was making the economic case for an independent Scotland, BBC Sunday Show’s host Martin Geissler raised questions about independence.

He said: “But we don’t know when any of this would happen and it doesn’t give any certainty or security. 

“I know you guys hate any comparison with Brexit but let me put this to you from a voter’s perspective, this feels a bit like the uncertainty of Brexit, doesn’t it? 

“It’s got all of the difficult nasty negotiations, it’s got all the risks multiplied over. And just like for Brexit, you’re asking the voters to buy something without knowing what it looks or feels like.”

Mr Swinney fired back: “It’s pretty obvious Scotland will be welcomed as an independent member of the European Union.”

BBC’s Martin Geissler asked: “Is it?”

Mr Swinney persisted: “The European Union has a track record of welcoming states and a number of key figures in the European Union – not least of which the former President of the European Council Donald Tusk – made it very clear that Scotland’s access to the European Union would be straightforward.”

Mr Geissler asked: “But when? But when do we get a currency? We don’t know when that will be. When we’ve used our own currency for several years. Would you agree that could well be within a decade away? Theoretically, it could be more than ten years after independence.”

Mr Swinney interjected: “I don’t think that will likely at all. I think what will happen is that we will take the incremental steps that I have set out of establishing a Scottish central bank on day one of independence to begin to establish the institutional credibility that enables us to establish a Scottish currency. 

“That will build on the achievements that we’ve already made and establishing a well-functioning tax and security system within Scotland under the current arrangements – all of which are performing well. 

“We’ve got credibility as a government over the last 20 years of living with our own resources. That is fiscal credibility to the Scottish Government. Build that to an independent central bank and that begins to build the factual credibility that is essential and which has been squandered by the Conservative Party’s behaviour in recent weeks.”

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister added he was confident the SNP would win the case for independence in a referendum. 

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Nicola Sturgeon laid out the economic case for an independent Scotland with a third independence paper on details proposals for Scottish currency with a view to joining the European Union – a goal she has set out to accomplish since Scotland was dragged out of the union with the rest of the UK. Almost two-thirds of Scots voted to remain in the European Union.

Showing how the UK’s economy “is in long-term decline” after Liz Truss’ mini-budget, she argued a Scotland would be better off outside the United Kingdom. 

While an independent Scotland would immediately create a Scottish central bank and debt management office, it would keep the UK currency “until the time is right to move to a Scottish pound,” the paper says, effectively ruling out the prospect of joining the euro – a pre-requisite for prospective EU members.

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