To think its ok to tell voters that businesses will move south if its a yes?

[Loopylala7]

If these businesses do intend to shift south of the border if its a yes, shouldn't the voters know this is a possible outcome? Why is it considered unfair for this information to be out? Can somebody please explain? Am I being a bit dense?

Sorry for the diversion, but can anyone tell me definitely whether Scotland will keep the pound, and who is responsible for making that decision?

Of course it is.(in answer to the original op) With such an important decision to make, people have to have all available information available to them.

Some business will need to relocate their HQs out of a 'foreign' country.

If companies are worried about the 'magic bean' economic policies outlined the the Yes lot, then its hardly surprising that they are spooked. Business are in business - there is no sentiment there and they will do what is best for the shareholders (sod the workers).

Great for the SE where the financial institutions will relocate to. Crap for Scotland and the North.

I am pretty horrified by the bile and venom from both sides in this debate. It is really showing us up as a bunch of neanderthals. I don't reecognise it at all - from my student days of debates in the classrooms and pub, debates were informed and passionate. Noone got a bloody nose or death threat.

Sorry for the diversion, but can anyone tell me definitely whether Scotland will keep the pound, and who is responsible for making that decision?

No one can say anything for definite.

There is something that confuses me - people keep saying that Scotland is a very rich country. If that is the case, why do they need a bigger chunk of public money per capita than England? Or is England more wealthy?

The banks will do what has the least financial cost whilst conforming to the laws. The biggest risk to the jobs in Scotland banking if there is a yes vote is through either fear or wanting more business and jobs for British people that people could boycott or move their money from banks which the feel rightly or wrongly are Scottish. Any hint of a run on the banks would cancel any "we have no intentions of job loss" which is a non committal sentence and no guarantee of secure employment.

What exactly does "moving", mean, does it matter whether companies move?

My guess (based on zero expertise and zero effort following this subject) is that all moving means it that the directors live in London, meaning the company is controlled from there and therefore taxed there, and presumably regulated there if applicable. The other 99% of employees can do their job anywhere in the world, including the current offices in Scotland. Their job longevity probably depends on them continuing to speak better English than Indians, rather than on how the vote goes.

Since corporation tax generally is an insignificant source of government revenue, Scotland won't lose much if it loses the corporation tax on a few big companies. (The big money in tax is taxing the salaries of employees, who are much more of a sitting target than multi-national corporations, and therefore can be taxed at twice the rate.)

To me it just smells of the establishment trying to scare people into voting no..

The only thing that these businesses will be thinking about is their bottom line. End of! They are there to make money and one of the things that can impact market confidence is the political and economical stability of the country. Independent Scotland is an unknown, therefore a riskier prospect.

People need to try and stop thinking about this aspect of the potential transition so emotionally and as some sort of scare mongering and look at it from a business prospective.

I'm not voting and don't have a clue whether yes or no is better for Scotland. I do think there is a lot of scaremongering going on, deliberate scaremongering from politicians, businesses, press, etc to sway the vote to No which is pissing me off a bit.

"Sorry for the diversion, but can anyone tell me definitely whether Scotland will keep the pound, and who is responsible for making that decision?
"No one can say anything for definite."

Well, it's definite that iScotland would make the decision.

They cannot just "keep the pound" if they secede, because that has been ruled out by the country they are choosing to leave.

They can however continue to use the pound (tricky, as they might not actually have enough pounds in circulation, and only British ones would be backed by BoE) or a Scottish pound linked to the British one (like the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to US dollar at a fixed and rarely changed rate).

Or if they seek EU admission it might have to be the Euro.

Or they coukd attempt a brand new currency (calling it whatever they like, pegged or unpegged to any country as they want).

As there are so many options, and iScotland has not said which it prefers, that is why so many people say uncertainty over future currency continues.

FraidyCat. Any future Cap Ex is likely to be made in the holding territory and potentially any future redundancies are likely to be seem in non holding territories. So looking at RBS alone and bearing in mind its still recovering from a difficult position and they are still looking to make redundancies. Where do you think the majority of these redundancies would be seen if they were to relocate to England? No one will ever admit it but I think we can all have a guess!

Last minute bully boy mentality. They should gave presented their case sooner but true to form the arrogance prevailed and they assumed a No was a given. I hope Scotland get what they want. I am pro yes but the more I see of WM antics and read about the likelihood of years of Tories here the more I also fear living in a small right wing country. It's a mess either way and if it is No it will rumble on

I do think there is a lot of scaremongering going on, deliberate scaremongering from politicians, businesses, press, etc to sway the vote to No which is pissing me off a bit

Err that is happening on the yes side too. Jim Sillars quotes rants the other day show that.

I hope Scotland get what they want.
If it is as close as the polls say they nearly half of Scotland won't get what it wants.

We are in Scotland, and set up our own company a couple of months ago - it is registered in England and not Scotland on the advice of the accountant, as he advised that it is better to deal with a known fiscal regime.

To say it's scaremongering is naive. Businesses will do what they have to and they won't give a damn about the casualties. People need to be aware that there will be significant economic consequences of a 'Yes' vote. They may be short term (a few years, very best case scenario), but there's no way of saying that for certain. If could take decades for Scotland to fully recover. The rest of the UK won't escape unscathed either.

Companies WILL move. Jobs WILL go. Peoples lives WILL be turned upside down. Those are certainties. The rosy picture many are expecting won't come for a very long time, if ever.

As always, it will be the people who have the least who will suffer the most. The well off will weather the storm or move.

No it will all be fine we have oil skips off waving saltire into la la braveheart land

Unless it's easy to pick up, move, and re-establish in England, I doubt they'll really leave. They're just stamping their feet.

But it is easy. There might be some inconvenience involved, but why would that bother them compared with trading in a tiny country with massive fiscal and currency uncertainty, that isn't a member of the EU?

Jollyphonics, people keep saying that Scotland is more wealthy because that is what the Yes campaign need people to believe; and because of oil. Which of course leave the massive hole in that argument - oil won't last forever. And, as you rightly point out, even with oil they receive more funding per head than England does.

I worked for a foreign financial institute that 'relocated'. I'm sure we all could have done our jobs very nicely from London but a few bods were kept on to wind it all down. The business is still active in the UK market (a financial service provider) but trust me, if a business relocated its HQ, they pack up shop.

The No campaign isn't just throwing up things now - they are just reacting now as they have been unbelievible badly organised and complacent since the get go.

The country isn't set up to go it alone. Who actually owns much of the land, businesses, even the oil?

How can the nhs survive with the 3rd world health that we have, or the SS with the unemplpyment levels? Where is all this money copming from? The EU - they won't want Scotland as a member (france and spain would be up in arms as they don't want the basques and catalans demanding the same). The country will be bankrupt and end up having to make and allance with a wealthier neighbour, oh hang on...

I think people are forgetting the turmoil of the Thatcher years. There was no work and Scotland was reduced to a wasteland for over a decade. Scotland has seen a lot worse than a few businesses moving HQ for legal purposes.

The doom laden paranoia is pure madness. Voting yes will ensure that Scotland can never be sidelined like this again.

Voting yes will ensure that Scotland can never be sidelined like this again.

Not sidelined no but there is nothing to say it won't get to that position of our own accord. Who will be to 'blame' then?

Thanks, that's interesting, that 'using' pounds and 'keeping the pound' are different things.

I'm very under-informed I'm sure, but to me it makes no sense from a branding perspective to say "we want to be separate and independent, but we might still want to use the currency of our previous affiliation".

And how odd that nobody knows what the outcome would be if the Yes vote succeeds! Surely page one in the How To Create A Country book is flag and currency.

Surely page one in the How To Create A Country book is flag and currency.