No ifs, no buts - we will not share the pound if Scotland separates from the U.K.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If the Scottish people decide to opt for independence, it would not be a good idea for Scotland to maintain a very rigid link to the pound.
If the U.K. were threatening to withdraw from Europe, I would certainly want Scotland to be out of that.
Scotland is not a region of the U.K.; Scotland is a nation, and if we cannot protect our interests within a U.K. that is going to be changing fundamentally, then that right of Scotland to consider the options of independence has to be there.
One of my greatest sadnesses at the prospective break-up of the Union is that it will set English, Welsh and Northern Irish against Scots in a bitter division of the debts and resources of the whole of the U.K.
An independent Scotland - like all countries - will face challenges, and we will have our ups and downs. But the decisions about how we use our wealth will be ours.
The U.K.'s debt belongs legally to Westminster, so Scotland, by definition, can't default on it.
If Scotland was independent, we'd be the 14th richest country in the developed world.
I desperately want Scotland to be an independent country. I cannot, though, sit here and tell you definitively that it will happen, and that it will happen on this timescale, because I have to respect the opinion of the people of Scotland.
Britain is not in the single currency, and we're not going to be. But we all need the eurozone to have the right governance and structures to secure a successful currency for the long term.
The Scottish Labour Party should work as equal partners with the U.K. party, just as Scotland is an equal partner in the United Kingdom. Scotland has chosen home rule - not London rule.
No opposing quotes found.