Scottish Referendum debate: Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond, Wednesday September 10th, 1.45-2.45pm

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,

We're delighted to announce that Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling will both be joining us on Mumsnet this Wednesday at 1.45pm, to take part in a live debate in the lead-up to the Scottish Referendum on September 18th.

The decision with which Scottish voters are faced this month constitutes a significant moment in the history - and future - of Scotland and the UK. And with polls currently predicting a result that's too close to call, this final showdown between the two leaders could potentially prove decisive.

The debate will be conducted along typical Mumsnet webchat lines, but with each guest free to question and respond to the answers of the other. We know the referendum has been a topic of serious discussion on the site (we're currently on IndyRef thread number seven - and counting ...) so in order to ensure that the leaders answer your questions, we're restricting the ability to post to Mumsnetters who'd been members of the site for more than 24 hours before the launch of this thread. Otherwise, the usual guidelines apply.

Please join us on Wednesday at 1.45pm - and if you can't make it then, as ever, do post up any comments or questions in advance.

Cedric, we are allowed to comment on posts.

Mr Salmond

Would you agree that you ultimately believe in independence above all other considerations, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, sickness and health etc? You'd rather risk going bust under your own steam than stay part of the UK.

This is why no amount of facts, independent advice or economic predictions will alter your views.

Blind faith can be admirable, but it is also dangerous.

Issy. I think even the IMF recognise which is the strongest growing economy in the G7. The MD has admitted being wrong on austerity and it's impact.

weatherall- taking on a new country's risk via our currency? No thanks. Have a look at Italy, Spain and Greece and tell me then how well you think currency unions go. It isn't as easy as AS makes it sound.

@WildThong

Mr Salmond, what will be the SNP position on retaining the Royal Family even after the current Queen? I ask as I was assured by one of your campaigners that Queen Elizabeth would be the last crowned Windsor in Scotland.

As we've seen this morning in the statement from Buckingham Palace, the bizarre claims that Her Majesty the Queen was anything other than neutral in this debate have been explicitly and firmly put to rest. Of course, as the BBC royal correspondent pointed out last night make there is the historical fact that Scotland and England had over 100 years as independent countries with the same monarchs. Our proposal is to reverse the Westminster parliamentary union not the union of the crowns, which pre-dated it.

Interestingly enough, the opinion poll at the weekend, which provoked so much panic in the No campaign also showed a resounding majority of Scots who wish to continue with Her Majesty the Queen as Queen of Scots, as her ancestors were. We should also remember that Her Majesty is Queen of 16 countries and realms, not just this one, as well as being Head of the Commonwealth of 71 countries and territories. This point is not likely to be lost in Scotland, where we have just enjoyed the most successful Commonwealth Games in history.

Yes, but my xH is not Scottish and he has a second home here which he uses for every other weekend contact with our son (we are separated)

TBH I don't think he should have had a vote. Maybe report him for electoral fraud?

Weatherall, there are other voices who wish to be heard

Mr Salmond, what do you say to the non-Scots who are expressing distress and sadness over what they see as "losing" Scotland? How would you speak to the frustration and feeling of powerlessness that sometimes comes over from those in the rest of the UK when Scottish independence is mentioned? (FWIW, I am a non-resident Scot and would vote Yes -- but find the reaction very understandable, if distressing and sometimes frustrating.)

weatherall - ending the Union is throwing stones at your neighbour. If you want to be separate, you must be separate.

re: no border posts. I don't get it. Wouldn't it mean that all those would-be immigrants who are queued up at Calais right now could just catch a flight to Glasgow (Scotland's going to welcome immigrants after all) and then just take a short drive down the motorway and into England?

Mr Darling, because the multi party promise of more devolution has been left so late, many people don't believe it will happen. They believe it's a false promises and that if we vote no, Scotland will be punished and the extra powers will not materialise. More needs to be done to convince people that you all will stick to your word. How would you convince people that none of the parties will back down. Have the parties, for example, considered getting pledges from as many of their mps as possible stating that they will back additional powers for Scotland? What is the level of support within the parties?

I'm a no voter who doesn't want to see my country broken up. But many people don't trust Westminster. You need to convince them this is real and meaningful.

I would like an answer to wwbuffydo's first question

Exactly Poppadom. A currency union means that the BoE would have to be the lender of last resort and the UK effectively bailing out Scotland should things go badly wrong (which we all hope wouldn't happen of course).

So you would end up in this bizarre situation where a newly independent country wants to use your money, wants you to guarantee it's financial security and bail them out if things went pear shaped. Yet being new & independent they won't want to be told what they can/cannot spend their money on because hey....they're an independent country now right?

Would you agree to your guaranteeing your ex-H's debts without any agreements on what he can/cannot spend his money on?

@frankblackswife

Question for Alex Salmond. What confidence can you give me and my family in the event of an Independent Scotland. We are Higher rate tax payers, mortgage holders and my husband is a business owner (60+ % turnover from UK based companies). We don't and never have claimed benefits -we don't seem to fit in your demographic.

Hi there, thanks for your question. Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world - richer per head than countries like France, Japan and indeed the UK. In fact, over the past 5 years Scotland would have been £8.3 billion better off as an independent country – so there is no need for an independent Scotland to increase taxes.

Independence is a tremendous opportunity for businesses in Scotland – for the first time we will be able to set an economic policy which puts Scotland first.

Just today it was revealed that 300 business men and women – from single-employee businesses right up to Jim McColl, one of Scotland’s biggest job creators, and most recently saviour of the Ferguson’s shipyard – have now signed an open letter backing independence.

Finally, in an independent Scotland mortgage rates will continue to be based on the interest rate set by the Bank of England, which in a Sterling Area will be exactly the same for Scotland as for the rest of the UK, just as it is now.

Mr Darling

In the event of a No vote, can you please tell me what additional powers would be devolved to the Scottish Government and when ?

Thank you

@weatherall

Cedric, we are allowed to comment on posts.

Yup that's fine but we're keen to avoid individual posters dominating the debate or sparking off intra-poster debates while the webchat is ongoing - partly for practical reasons and partly because the tone of some of the posts was a bit uncivil

I don't think its the BT campaign saying the queen is concerned, its newspapers such as the Daily Mail, so Mr Salmond and some posters on here are being unfair to pin it on BT campaign

thecardinal as a non-Scottish British person living the past 25 years in Scotland I may wake up on the 19th in a foreign country!

Thank you, Mr Salmond. I didn't try to accuse the Queen of not being neutral though. (Lese majeste I did want to know specifically if there was any plans to 'do away' with having a Royal Family in the future.

In fact, over the past 5 years Scotland’s would have been £8.3 billion better off as an independent country – so there is no need for an independent Scotland to increase taxes.

We need to see the calculations for this.

Are you factoring in set up costs of nearly 200 institutions? How are you factoring in the response of the international markets?

The Scottish government's GERS figures clearly show there is a deficit.

Mr Darling, because the multi party promise of more devolution has been left so late, many people don't believe it will happen. They believe it's a false promises and that if we vote no, Scotland will be punished and the extra powers will not materialise. More needs to be done to convince people that you all will stick to your word. How would you convince people that none of the parties will back down. Have the parties, for example, considered getting pledges from as many of their mps as possible stating that they will back additional powers for Scotland? What is the level of support within the parties?

I'm a no voter who doesn't want to see my country broken up. But many people don't trust Westminster. You need to convince them this is real and meaningful.

This^ There are an awful lot of Yes voters who would have voted for Devomax

@AlexSalmond

[quote Mythreeknights] For AS: I just don't understand how you can feel confident leading this country if there is no guarantee that we can keep the pound, if you plan to default on national debt, and the majority of financial institutions insist there will be massive economic troubles ahead. How can you be confident against such critical certainty from a number of economic experts? How can you reassure me that Scotland will not enter a long period of austerity and recession?

I think one of the crucial points of this campaign was the exchange on this matter during the BBC televised debate of two weeks ago when I explained not just the policy options available to Scotland but why our arguments of a common sense agreement on a common currency, sharing both assets and liabilities is best both Scotland and the rest of the UK.

There are plenty of economic experts, including the economic Nobel laureates James Mirrlees and Joseph Stiglitz, who have backed that position but more importantly all the evidence is that a majority of the people of Scotland support that common sense view. Alistair Darling's admission during the debate that "of course we could keep the pound" merely stated the obvious that you cannot be stopped by anyone from using an internationally tradeable currency but the agreement on a common currency would be best for everyone.[/quote]

Oh dear. Of course Scotland can use the pound. Like Panama uses the dollar. We could also use the yen, the rouble or the dollar. The crucial point is that it would be somebody else's currency, leaving us with no control over interest rates. On top of that countries like Panama or Hong Kong have to hold huge reserves in case they run out of money. It's no accident that these countries have minimal public services. Nothing like what we already have here. Crucially, Scotland would have no central bank. That would cost us tens of thousands of job in the financial services industry. If this really is Alex's Plan B, it is mad.

but if you don't get a currency union, Mr Salmond, which you have been told repeatedly won't happen what happens to our mortgages then?

@weatherall

Mr Darling - wouldnt refusing a CU be 'throwing stones at our neighbours,?

Hello. A currency union would be bad for Scotland. It would mean our budgets would not be decided in Scotland but would have to be agreed in London by the Bank of England and the rest of the UK's treasury (by then a foreign country). That's what happens in the Eurozone. Every country's budget has to be approved by the European Commission. It wouldn't work for the rest of the UK either. A currency union means underwriting the other members' banks which it wouldn't then regulate. As the governor of the Bank of England has said, currency unions work where there is economic union and a banking union- which then lead to a political union. That's what happens now in the UK, in the US and in Canada. The Eurozone as we have seen isn't working. Not least because they can't provide a backstop by transferring money to countries that are struggling. Jim Sillars, former deputy leader of the SNP, has described the currency union plan as "stupidity on stilts" He's right on that one.