IT was disappointing but hardly surprising that according to the media, sources are repeating the tired only fallacy that an independent Scotland would have to join the euro. These sources are, of course, unnamed.
Currently, 19 of the 27 European Union member countries are using the euro. Denmark has negotiated an opt-out while seven do not currently fulfil the criteria for joining the euro.
READ MORE: FACT CHECK: Would Scotland be blocked from the EU if it doesn't join the euro?
Any country adopting the euro has to firstly join the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) for two years. The ERM was set up to ensure that exchange-rate fluctuations between the euro and other EU currencies do not disrupt economic stability. Participation in ERM is voluntary for non-euro countries.
Indeed, the EU does not have a formal timetable for countries joining the single currency and noted that it is up to individual countries to calibrate their path towards this.
Reinforcing this, Jean-Claude Juncker, the former president of the European Commission, said in 2017: "I have no intention of forcing countries to join the euro if they are not willing or not able to do so".
READ MORE: Will Scotland have to join the euro to join the EU? What the experts say
Sweden joined the EU in 1995 and has not yet adopted the euro or entered into the ERM. Euro membership was defeated in a referendum in 2003, and the country has no formal timetable for signing up. The EU has not exerted any pressure whatsoever on Sweden to adopt the single currency.
This is yet again a simple case of scaremongering, and an independent Scotland could join the EU without being forced to join the euro.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
I MISSED FMQs last week so most of my information came from snatches in TV news reports. As a result I was unaware that Tory HQ had used an article from The Times with four anonymous sources as the basis for Douglas Ross’s script.
Consequently Abbi Garten-Crosbie’s article in The National on Friday, describing how Nicola Sturgeon destroyed Douglas Ross’s erroneous claim that Scotland must join the euro to get into the EU and ridiculed his flip flopping, was an even more enjoyable read (FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon destroys claim that Scotland must join the euro to get into EU, Oct 28).
However, it left me wondering how many people believe that Douglas Ross had raised a valid point, as the TV news reports did not mention that the question had been put and answered many times before, that it was based on anonymous sources and that Douglas Ross had been spouting palpable nonsense.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
I FIND myself greatly attracted to the suggestion by Angus MacNeil MP (Why we should hold a Holyrood election as a vote on independence, Oct 29) that the SNP force a Holyrood election by resigning from government and blocking any joint attempts by the Unionists to govern in their place.
As children and families prepare to face cold homes and meagre meals this winter, maybe the time for talking is now over and the time for positive action has finally arrived.
The Supreme Court case is clearly a dead-end journey into a Unionist cul-de-sac. It will do nothing to advance the case for an independent Scotland – regardless of its outcome. A UK General Election looks like being two years away. Some of our fellow citizens will clearly not live to see that event and the rest will suffer another two years of intense Tory austerity.
If the SNP and Green leadership can gather up the courage to do as Angus suggests – and I sadly doubt they will – I hope we will not be again faced with the moronic chant of “both votes SNP”. We need to ensure there is a viable alternative party on the list ballot paper. I frankly don’t care if it’s the Alba party, the Green Party, the Christmas Party or any other nationalist party that can legally be registered. I do not want to see another million nationalist votes end up in the electoral bin and a fresh crop of Unionists elected on the regional lists.
It is time we had some radical leadership from those with warm homes and food on their tables, to save those who have neither.
Iain Evans
Edinburgh
I’M supporting Angus MacNeil on a Scottish referendum by the Scottish Government. We must not allow Westminster to murder our poorest. We cannot allow the bodies to pile up again. Nicola, as SNP leader it is your duty to protect our population. Please don’t let us down.
Isabel Cooney
via email
THE Spectator, that paragon of journalistic candour, promoter of such bloviating talents as Boris Johnson, has now sunk to the “Effie Deans” level of propaganda, just when you thought the standards of the original Tory mouthpiece and the party it promotes could sink no lower.
READ MORE: Effie Deans pens Spectator column on Sunak crushing SNP
The import is not “Effie Deans” but how deeply the Tories and Unionist apologists are now left scraping the “You’ll have had your referendum, dearie” barrel.
First they shout you down, then they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win. I think I know where the Tory Party is now but they have little left to fight with if the likes of “Effie Deans” is going be a key player.
Peter Thomson
via email
THE same old crew who put the ship on the rocks have clambered aboard again. And we’re supposed to be reassured because the purser has put on the captain’s hat!
Bruce Crichton
via email
SO the heid-banger Tory MP Giles Watling has stated that the Scottish people have been influenced by Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart for independence. What an insulting remark to make about the Scottish electorate. I do wonder what it is this stupid man thinks influences the Scottish people to having NEVER voted Tory since the 1950s?
Giles Watling needs to give himself a slap to perhaps help him to see the truth (Scotland detests the Tories). Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Giles Waffling Watling.
Anne Smart
Milton of Campsie
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