A senior member of the Scottish National Party has accused prime minister David Cameron and the UK government of “scare tactics” regarding rejecting a currency union with an independent Scotland.
Speaking to Estates Gazette at the annual Scottish Property Federation conference in Edinburgh, Derek Mackay, Scottish government minister for planning and local government, said: “We are pretty confident we will share currency with the rest of the UK post a ‘yes’ vote. We believe Westminster is bluffing and using scare tactics.”
Mackay, was one of a number of panellists at today’s event, which also included British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace, Aberdeen Asset Management’s Andrew Creighton and representatives from all of the main political parties.
Asked if the independence debate had affected planning in Scotland to date, Mackay said the issue had caused “no turbulence within the planning system” and had not affected the number of planning application submissions.
Mackay tried to reassure the property industry when he said: “We don’t want to create uncertainty. We will use tax and fiscal powers to grow the Scottish economy. We recognise the property industry is key to the success of Scotland and we wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that going forward.”
Other political panellists criticised the SNP for the lack of clarity regarding currency should a yes vote win through in September’s referendum. Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Why is the SNP not coming forward with its currency proposals. We need to know this now to give the market certainty. Yet we still haven’t got it.”
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
