Salmond "We can take Scotland in two weeks"

[eek]

RBS isnt leaving... stop making things up.

RBS has to leave. EU rules state that banks have to be domiciled within their biggest market. Scotland is not the biggest market for RBS and Lloyds so they will have to move..

[minestrone]

RBS isnt leaving... stop making things up.

RBS have to leave, there will be no lender of last resort.

It is a certainty.

[minestrone]

RBS has to leave. EU rules state that banks have to be domiciled within their biggest market. Scotland is not the biggest market for RBS and Lloyds so they will have to move..

And that as well.

[Mich the Tester]

Perhaps they should get this guy in to run the country

Manuel Noriega - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Panama's done quite well since he was removed. He's in prison in Panama now and he's not flavour of the month.

[Old Greg]

Well, I'm trying to look beyond the hyperbole and work out what's really going to happen; England and Scotland will still be on the same island and will still have to work together, whether Scotland's independent or not, and many Scots will live and work in England, while there will still be many English people who have family in Scotland or live there, etc etc. Practically, whatever the hyperbole, I suspect that the 'independence' and the 'stay in the union' camps will both have to shift their position to something looking more like a deeper devolution.

Here's a question. What if iScotland undercuts Ireland on corporation tax and allows an equivalent of a Double Irish (with optional Dutch sandwich)? It's a tick small countries can pull off. Would that make a difference?

[DodgyAgent]

Dream on. They'll have their own currency.

I beg to differ

or a completely free floating independent currency. The last of these possibilities has been all but ruled out – and for fairly obvious reasons. Scotland has a lot of debt, both public and private. As home to the UK’s two largest banks, total debt is off the scale relative to GDP once financial liabilities are also taken into account. It would be impossible for the new currency to stand behind such mountainous foreign currency obligations. And if sterling debt was redenominated in the local currency, it would be tantamount to default, creating a massive financial and economic crisis.

[Mich the Tester]

Here's a question. What if iScotland undercuts Ireland on corporation tax and allows an equivalent of a Double Irish (with optional Dutch sandwich)? It's a tick small countries can pull off. Would that make a difference?

Here's a question; What if England did that?

[minestrone]

I beg to differ

or a completely free floating independent currency. The last of these possibilities has been all but ruled out – and for fairly obvious reasons. Scotland has a lot of debt, both public and private. As home to the UK’s two largest banks, total debt is off the scale relative to GDP once financial liabilities are also taken into account. It would be impossible for the new currency to stand behind such mountainous foreign currency obligations. And if sterling debt was redenominated in the local currency, it would be tantamount to default, creating a massive financial and economic crisis.

The banks are owned by the UK. They will be gone.

[Old Greg]

RBS have to leave, there will be no lender of last resort.

It is a certainty.

Except, iScotland will have its own currency and lender of last resort.

But the question is whether RBS can be domiciled in Scotland under EU rules.

[Old Greg]

Here's a question; What if England did that?

England / rUK are too big. A smaller country can afford to lose the CT on existing domestic companies as the existing tax base is so much smaller, so the new global businesses attracted will make up for it. Doesn't work for a big country.