Scottish Independence Vote Triggers Mass Banknote Shift Amid Fears Of Run On ATMs

Millions of banknotes have been rushed to Scotland amid growing fears a Yes vote on Thursday could trigger a run on the country's ATMs, it has been reported.

As the future of the union hangs in the balance, Scottish businesses near the border have also purportedly been moving their money into English accounts in Cumbria.

Fearing people will run to withdraw money and put it into English banks, the cash has been moved to ensure the banks and , ATMs do not run out.

The Bank of England prints bank notes and circulates them in high-security vans to where they are needed, depending on the demand.

One source told the The Independent there had not yet a surge in withdrawals: “We have seen a big rise in customers coming in and asking us what would happen, but there is no sign of any significant flow of deposits from north to south.”

Another said: "We are, of course, monitoring the situation very closely from hour to hour.”

Rob Johnson, the chief executive of Cumbria's Chamber of Commerce, said many firms were transferring funds from banks registered in Scotland to those headquartered in England.

"We know it's happening, but we can't give names," he told The Guardian.

"It's inevitable that people would start to do this because uncertainty is something businesses can't handle … It's not about businesses being pro or against independence, it's businesses saying: 'There are some real issues here and we don't know what's happening.'"

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Alex Salmond's Independent Scotland Could Fail In A Year, Warn Experts, Huffington Post

An independent Scotland "would fail within a year" if it kept the pound informally and refused to take on its share of the national debt, according to an influential think-tank.

The National Institute for Economic and Social Research warned that such an approach would lead to "unprecedented" austerity in a newly-independent Scotland. Meanwhile, any attempt to effectively default would see Scotland get a "junk" credit rating from international investors, who would then push up borrowing premiums or bar Scotland from capital markets.

The think-tank also indicated that it either risked isolating Scotland in Europe or setting off a "domino effect" of other European nations defaulting on their debts.

The think-tank said: "If Sterlingisation is combined [with] repudiating Scotland’s fair share of UK debt, we expect this regime would fail within a year."

This comes as Mark Wilson, the head of insurance giant Aviva, warned that the cost of borrowing would "almost certainly go up to cover the increased risk of being a smaller independent country".

The three main Westminster parties have ruled out sharing the pound in a formal currency union arrangement, but pro-independence campaigners have insisted that an independent Scotland would still use it informally, which has sparked warnings that it would need to make drastic cuts or tax rises to build up sufficient currency reserves.

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond has reportedly laughed off questions of how the UK government would react if a newly independent Scotland refused to shoulder its share of the national debt, saying: “What are they going to do – invade?”

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Scottish independence: Ewan Morrison’s No switch. The Scotsman

AN award-winning Scottish author and screenwriter has defected from the Yes campaign to Better Together, blaming the nationalists’ “Trotskyist” tactics.

Ewan Morrison, who won the Scottish Book of the Year Fiction Prize in 2013 for his novel ‘Close Your Eyes’, joined the Yes camp four months ago, but recently changed his mind after being “berated for not having decided sooner or for having questioned Yes at all”.

Morrison argues on the ‘Wake Up Scotland’ blog that there is “zero debate” in the Yes camp.

The writer claims the “Yes camp had turned itself into a recruitment machine which had to silence dissent and differences between the many clashing interest groups under its banner”.

Morrison, from Caithness, writes that the one-word promise of “Yes” is comparable to the Trotskyist promise of “revolution”.

He wrote: “I noticed that whenever someone raised a pragmatic question about governance, economics or future projections for oil revenue... they were quickly silenced.”

Such questions, he said, were dealt with by comments such as: “We’ll sort that out after the referendum - this is not the place or time for those kinds of questions.”

He added: “Many people are voting Yes just to express their frustration at not being able to engage with politics as it is.

“They’re voting Yes because they want to be heard for the first time. Once the recruitment machine has served its purpose it will collapse and the repressed questions will return with a vengeance.”

He added: “After a Yes vote the fight for control of Scotland will begin.

“That unity that seemed like a dream will be shattered into the different groups who agreed to silence themselves to achieve an illusion of impossible unity.”

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Words for The Wise, Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises 2 Peter 1

2 Peter 1:3-10New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Confirming one’s calling and election

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,

CALLING, CALL. This is one of the most common words in the Bible, representing over twenty words in the Heb. and Gr. text. In the OT the emphasis is on Israel’s corporate destiny; whereas in the NT the emphasis is on the call of the individual to repentance, faith and service. The “called” comprise a larger group than the “chosen” who respond (Matt 22:14).

In Pauline theology the verb “call” and the noun “calling” almost always denote that sort of call which is issued by the Father, and is made effective through the Spirit. It is such a call that produces a response of faith in Christ (Rom 8:30; 1 Cor 1:9; Gal 1:15; 2 Thess 2:13f.; 2 Tim 1:9; Heb 9:15; 1 Pet 2:9; 2 Pet 1:3; etc.). In the discussion of the ordo salutis (the way of salvation) classical Reformed theology generally speaks of this “effectual call” as the first act of God’s saving grace in the life of the elect. (See Rom 8:28-30; 9:23-26.)

Two other applications of this terminology may be noted in the NT: (1) God’s call to a special office or service such as that of apostleship (Rom 1:1); missionary preaching (Acts 13:2; 16:10); and priesthood (Heb 5:4); (2) God’s call to a providentially ordered occupation (1 Cor 7:20 possibly).

In general, one may say that calling is a semi-technical term for that act of God in Christ, whereby through the proclamation of the Word and the inner witness of the Spirit, sinners are effectually drawn in faith and repentance into the kingdom of God. As the message of the Gospel is heralded to every creature, as the general call is issued, God works by His Spirit in the hearts of those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to draw them to the Son. Such a call is issued by the Father, made effective by the Spirit through the Word and draws us into fellowship with the Son.

Bibliography G. Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, III (1965), 487-500.