currency Union would cause great damage
to both the UK and the Scottish
economies costing jobs and money which
could result in UK taxpayers promising
to bail out Scottish Banks and damage
the Sterling's value in the
international markets at least that's
what Osborne is saying anyway so let's
talk this through we've got George
Galloway right here he's MP for the
respect party in Britain so the question
is to begin with do you think that Mr
George Osborne is using bullying tactics
or has Mr
Salmon's pick and choose options run out
which side do you sit
on well I think that the sound and sight
of George Osborne lecturing the Scottish
people is a difficult one for many to
swallow but at the same time his message
is unequivocal and cannot be avoided it
is not possible to be an independent
state whilst using someone else's
currency uh because the people who issue
the currency as opposed to use the
currency are the people who will set the
conditions the levels of public
expenditure the rate of Taxation and so
on all fiscal and monetary Powers must
obviously remain with the country that
is issuing the currency and uh Mr sammon
I think has made a huge blunder in
claiming that you can have Independence
whilst using the UK pound he ought to
have had the courage of his convictions
and said either that Scotland would have
its own currency or would join the Euro
Zone I know why he did neither of those
first of all because the Euro doesn't
have a particularly good name here and
hasn't been going terribly well and
secondly because the example of say
Iceland or Slovakia perhaps even better
where the Slovakian currency lasted for
37 days before the World Bank and the
IMF moved in and effectively colonized
the country uh was not palatable as an
alternative but uh you can't really have
an independent Scotland with an English
Queen a UK pound uh still in NATO and
subject to American Le uh military
political decisions
and of course also still be in the EU
and subject to all the strictures that
come with that if there is a yes vote in
September what is the worst case
scenario for the Scottish
economy or the worst case is a race to
the bottom that's the worst case for the
working people at least a race to the
bottom provoked by a low tax low public
expenditure thatcherite ronom XS regime
in London forcing a Scottish state to
chase them all the way to the bottom to
cut their taxes even lower to make their
public expenditure even less to make
even more people unemployed and uh
Scotland would then be uh independent in
the sense that it could fly its own flag
from Edinburgh Castle uh but the
standard of living of people on both
sides of the border with virtually
Perpetual right-wing conservative rule
in England Shor as it would be of 59
anti-conservative MPS taken out of
Westminster that would be a disaster for
working people on both sides of the
border and it's the interest of working
people that I represent okay George
Galloway we leave it there thank you for
talking to us today very clear on where
you set uh where you sit on the agenda
there thank you very much indeed and
another political and economic
relationship that is on tender hooks
right now this time it's between
Switzerland and the European union now
this is following the Swiss parliament's
decision to