SNP accused of hypocrisy over Scottish banknotes
Posted, January 08, 2008 @ 00:00
Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson has accused the SNP Government of 'out-and-out hypocrisy' in the wake of Finance Minister John Swinney’s promise to write to Chancellor Alistair Darling demanding that Scottish banknotes be given equal status to English notes in England.
Speaking from Brussels, Struan said:
"The SNP’s demands seem completely ridiculous when you consider their real political agenda, which would take an independent Scotland into the Eurozone where Scottish banknotes would be banned.
"Alex Salmond used to work for a bank so he should know that the European Central Bank (ECB) produced a report way back in 1999 - the Report on the Legal Protection of Banknotes in the European Union Member States - which outlaws the issuance of banknotes by non-NCBs (National Central Banks, such as the three Scottish and four Northern Ireland banks) within the Eurozone.
"The SNP claims that distinctive banknotes issued by the three Scottish banks would be protected in the brave new world of the Euro, but the 1999 report makes it abundantly clear that no such deviation from the norm would be tolerated. The report claims that if the practice is allowed to continue it would provide the Scottish banks with some sort of commercial advantage over other banks through the ability to 'advertise their services through their banknotes'. They also claim that the different designs on Scottish Euro-notes would 'give rise to confusion in the general public' and would lead to 'distortions in monetary income calculations'.
"The SNP demands are no more than out-and-out hypocrisy, a charade aimed once again at opening up divisions between Scotland and England. While the SNP government maintains the pretext of trying to immortalise Scotland's unique banknotes, they are fully aware of the fact that independence would sound their death knell."