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.

Home Currencies Scottish independence: The cost of breaking the union Scottish independence: The cost of breaking the union, Moneyweek

Could an independent Scotland become the next Singapore, or would a ‘Yes’ vote be an act of national self-harm? Merryn Somerset Webb investigates.

In the late 1690s, Scotland’s government granted a charter to the Company of Scotland to set sail and attempt to establish a colony on the coast of Panama.

The interesting thing about this adventure is not so much its miserable end (most people died and only one ship returned to Scotland)*, but the way in which Scots of all sorts took part in it.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography puts it like this: “While Williamites and Jacobites remained implacably opposed over the monarchy, they came to be united in a belief that the Company of Scotland offered the prospect of national and personal prosperity. The original joint-stock company of 1695 was now the vehicle for the Scottish colony of New Caledonia, supported by a remarkably diverse group of Scots who had set aside their many and varied differences in pursuit of national glory and personal wealth.”

They didn’t get either, of course. The wealth was lost and the union (which allowed participants to recoup their losses via a payment from England to Scotland known as ‘the equivalence’) was found.

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Independence referendum: Top economists spell out 13 ways a Yes vote will hit us in the pocket, Daily Record

Sep 15, 2014 08:25 By Torcuil Crichton

THIRTEEN experts have written a joint letter to the Daily Record explaining exactly why they fear Scotland will not be richer or fairer after a vote for independence.

A BAKER’S dozen of top economists have listed 13 reasons why the people of Scotland will be worse off if there is a Yes vote.

Academics from universities across the country joined forces to spell out why they believe

independence would be a “big mistake”.

The 13 experts include the heads of economics at Edinburgh and Glasgow universities.

They warn a Yes vote would require more austerity and harsher cuts than those planned by the Westminster government – a threat that would see the poor bear the brunt.

In a joint letter issued to the Daily Record, the economists say: “Our main contention is that Scotland is unlikely to be richer and fairer if there is a Yes vote in the referendum.

“The irony is that within the Union, Scotland has a higher level of income per person than the UK.”

The academics add: “When we add up these 13 reasons not to vote for independence, we are extremely concerned that to do otherwise would be to gamble with the economic prospects of the present generation.

“As experienced and respected economists, we would urge you to vote No on September 18.”

Get all the latest independence referendum news right here.

The warning came after a leading think-tank claimed Alex Salmond has severely underestimated the economic risks of independence.

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Why destroy a united nation? Sunday Express, John Reid

Do we stay part of the family of nations which make up the United Kingdom or do we take a huge leap into the unknown and the uncertain by setting up a separate state?

I have fought many elections. I have knocked on doors, delivered leaflets, spoken at rallies and manned street stalls in town centres. In that sense, this referendum has qualities that are like an election but this is not like a normal election.

If we vote to leave the UK, it will be for ever, irreversible. There will be no changing our minds in four years if it turns out the promises made by the leader of a political party cannot, or will not, be kept.

That is why it is no time for a protest vote. It is not a time to gamble. This is not a lottery. There will not be another chance next week. The decision we take on Thursday is not just one for ourselves, it is for our children, for our grandchildren and for generations to come.

So, we have to get it right and the right decision is to say "no thanks" to separation. We do not need to take the risks of separation to change Scotland. Change is already coming with a No vote, faster change, better change, safe change.

We can strengthen our Scottish Parliament without losing the strength, security and stability that comes with being a member of the UK. A leap into the unknown with independence would be a huge risk for families across Scotland.

"The nationalists have not answered the fundamental questions. They cannot, or will not, tell us what currency we would use in the event of separation" 

John Reid

The nationalists have not answered the fundamental questions. They cannot, or will not, tell us what currency we would use in the event of separation. Currency matters.

It affects what our wages are worth, how much our mortgages and rents cost, what our credit card and shopping bills cost. It affects how we fund our pensions, how we fund our public services; our schools, hospitals and police. We cannot put that at risk. We can't risk a partnership which has benefited us all for three centuries.

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