Why no "Plan B"?

[ggreig]

As a supporter of Scottish independence, even I sometimes get frustrated that the SNP don't explicitly say what their "Plan B" is (implicitly it's always seemed fairly clear - a currency union isn't the only way of keeping the pound).

Whatever you may think of Alex Salmond, he's not daft, so there had to be a reason for him consistently failing to give the clarification that obviously many people want. I would have guessed that it was something to do with maintaining the strength of his negotiation position after a "Yes". That wasn't a million miles off, but it wasn't wholly right. Here's Alex Salmond giving the clearest explanation I've seen of why the SNP are taking the position they are:

Comments

[drplokta]

I fear you are too optimistic. In the event of a "yes" vote Scotland will be jettisoning itself from the EU on the date of its independence -- no one else will need to jettison it. So the EU will be contracting. There's already a precedent for this, in Algeria, which did not retain its EEC membership when it left France. I'm quite sure that Scotland will be able to rejoin the EU, and probably even jump the queue a bit, but it's extremely uncertain that it will be able to keep the UK's opt-outs, which will require unanimous consent from all 28 existing members.