Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Brazier Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

There is no bluff, bluster or bullying on this issue. Businesses, the Treasury and the political parties are making it clear that, on the basis of the evidence, a currency union would be bad for Scotland and bad for the rest of the United Kingdom. The hon. Gentleman rightly lists a range of businesses that have looked at their business models and recognised the damaging effect that independence would have on them. It is important that those businesses feel able to speak out to explain to their shareholders and workers how they see it, because people in Scotland should have every bit of information we need when we cast our votes in the referendum in September.

[Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)]

I commend my right hon. Friend’s answer. Does he agree that anybody who thinks that a currency union between sovereign states is a good idea should make an early visit to southern Europe?

[Danny Alexander]

It is striking how little the Scottish National party appears to have learned from what has happened in the eurozone. The truth is that when setting up a new country, the last thing anyone wants to do is to abandon all the levers that control the economy. The first few decades of independence would be a risky, dangerous and uncertain phase, and embarking on it without the ability to control interest rates or an exchange rate that can, for example, adjust to oil price fluctuations, and with your hands bound on tax and spending—one of the lessons of the eurozone crisis—is an utterly ridiculous proposition.