AN independent Scotland will need its own currency to be able to take action on issues such as the cost of living crisis, according to a tax expert.
Richard Murphy, professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University, gave the example of the UK Government creating billions of pounds to pay for Covid support.
He said Scotland with its own currency would be able to choose to help with the soaring cost of energy – which he said is likely to be as significant an economic crisis as Covid was.
Murphy, who spoke at last week’s Scottish Sovereignty Research Group’s conference in Dunfermline remotely, told the Sunday National: “We discussed why Scotland needs its own tax system and money system to manage, for example, unforeseen problems.
“The example I gave was Covid and furlough – if Scotland didn’t have its own currency then it would never have been able to do what happened in the UK in 2020/2021 – which was, of course, furlough.
“The UK Government created £400 billion to actually pay the whole Covid crisis.
“Not a single penny of the spending for Covid was actually paid for by the taxpayer – it was all done because the Bank of England can create money at will for the UK Government. So Scotland has to have a similar power.”
Murphy pointed to a “major social crisis” in Scotland looming this winter: “We don’t know how people can afford to pay £3800 on average for their fuel.”
“The reality is even in Scotland it could be millions who are not able to do so. And in that case, how do we provide them with the support they need? This is a crisis at least as significant in economic terms as Covid, people are going to be forced to choose between heat and food, and unless Scotland would have its own currency, I don’t think it would be able to handle that scale of crisis.
“I would hope a future compassionate Scottish Government would want to tackle such problems – and it can’t do it without its own currency.”
Currency is expected to be covered in the Scottish Government indy papers, with the party’s policy to replace the pound “as soon as practicable” after leaving the UK.
Murphy added: “If you want to be independent, there is no choice – you have to have your own currency.”
