Did anybody up there in Brigadoon really think that the British people have spent the last 10 years rejecting the euro only to jump into another currency union?
That's one aspect of this possible divorce that hasn't really been publicized too much. While a newly independent Scotland may have to cede some sovereignty to the remainder of the UK in order to stay in a currency union, the rest of the UK will also have to cede sovereignty to the newly independent Scotland.
If, as has been suggested, Scotland takes a radically different approach and becomes a more egalitarian society with high levels of welfare spending fueled by a mixture of North Sea oil revenues and borrowing based on those revenues, then the rest of the UK will have to underwrite this expenditure to some extent. I'm not sure how happy the rest of the UK will be to have the value of their currency determined in part by a group of politicians in a neighboring country with a radically different world view.
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