Cameron should call rUK referendum to get his own mandate on the currency

SURELY a huge concern for anyone thinking of voting Yes next week must be the eventual Salmond/ Cameron negotiations for a properly guaranteed Scottish pound. It will be akin to a game of poker. However, we know that Mr Salmond’s principal cards will be his “mandate from the people” (probably less than half the population), the threat of the £5 billion debt non-payment and the potential Scottish/rUK exchange rate hassles.

Mr Cameron knows that Mr Salmond’s threats, if carried out, would adversely affect Scotland much more than rUK. However, he need play just one card of his own. He can insist on an rUK referendum to get his own “mandate from the people” to allow his government to fully guarantee the currency of a foreign country – indeed, the good citizens of rUK might well demand that referendum as a democratic right.

Hands up all those who think that Mr Cameron would get that mandate? John Gould, 5 Fulton Place, Dalrymple, Ayr. SOME Yes voters are not so much Scottish nationalists as social idealists. It is of course sadly true that post-crisis austerity has exacerbated inequality: but it is simply not true that an independent Scotland would be able to afford better social welfare. It is not true that Scottish state pensions could match the UK’s. It is not true that the NHS would somehow be more secure. The costs of duplicating civil servants, establishing a defence force, financed by a narrower and more volatile tax base, and higher borrowing costs would be a major constraint.

Economic recovery is the essential precondition for social justice. To enable Scotland to participate, social idealists should vote No. Robert Stephens, Morningside Park, Edinburgh. IT seems increasingly likely that if Scotland chooses independence the First Minister’s first international assignment will be to visit the IMF with a begging bowl, There he will be told of the economic cuts to be made in public spending, and he may be forced to mortgage future oil assets.

In the meantime we will see reductions rather than improvements in our public services, including the NHS. We may well gaze with astonishment at rising unemployment, falls in property prices, rising mortgages and increased taxation.

This may sound like a message of doom but every enterprise must look at the worst-case scenario. Mr Salmond seems blind to these possibilities and even our Westminster politicians have been too coy to mention them for fear of the consequences. The residual UK economy will also suffer, though with a greater economic pool it is likely to show more resilience than an independent Scotland.

It is still not too late to prevent this emotionally-driven lemming leap from wrecking Scotland’s future prospects, and our public services, including the NHS, from serious contraction. Alistair Macleod, 39 Lodge Walk, Elie.