Scottish currency options up for debate at public meeting

The options for currency in an independent Scotland will be laid out for discussion at a public meeting in Kirkwall on Tuesday evening.

Speakers on the night will be Mike Fenwick and Andy Anderson.

Mr Fenwick, a social entrepreneur, with over 50 years experience in financial services, financial regulation, and competition law, will give an analysis as he sees it, and in the simplest way he can offer, of banking, regulation and what, by habit, Scotland sees and uses as currency

He has put forward a proposal that a new Scottish currency could be called the Scottish “Hand”.

He said: “Maybe others can suggest better, but what it is called, important as that may be, is less important than seeing it introduced – not after independence, in my opinion, but before.

“What would it be like to have a new way of paying and being paid? What would the new notes look like? Would they be accepted – who by? Would it be printed on paper which had security features to prevent counterfeiting? Are the issues involved equally valid to those who voted Yes or those who voted No?

“There’s loads of questions – not least how we make it happen. Perhaps one of the answers would be that it was created in Scotland, for Scotland, backed not by a promise from a bank, but through a promise backed in hard cash, paid by your fellow countrymen and women. Is that a ‘hand’ you would refuse?”

Mr Fenwick said his aim is to “discuss all of the questions, try to find the answers, and, having found them, then make it happen.”

Andy Anderson will be speaking about the ideas put forward in his books Currency in an Independent Scotland and Moving On, examining the social factors which shape the present UK and Scottish economies and seeking to define how Scotland might develop a different model more appropriate to the Scottish perception of a fairer society.

A Scottish Currency, organised by Yes Orkney, is on Tuesday, October 25 at 7.30pm in the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall.