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 With the fate of the United Kingdom on a knife edge, the economic
future of Scotland has become one the most fiercely debated issues
less than six days before Scots decide on whether to break away.
Nationalists accuse British Prime Minister David Cameron of
coordinating a scare campaign by business leaders aimed at spooking
voters while unionists say separation is fraught with financial and
economic uncertainty.
But former Scottish Nationalist Party deputy leader Jim Sillars went
much further than separatist leader Alex Salmond, warning that BP's
operations in Scotland might face nationalization if Scots voted for
secession on Sept. 18.
"This referendum is about power, and when we get a 'Yes' majority we
will use that power for a day of reckoning with BP and the banks,"
Sillars, a nationalist rival of Salmond's, was quoted by Scottish
media as saying.
"BP, in an independent Scotland, will need to learn the meaning of
nationalization, in part or in whole, as it has in other countries
who have not been as soft as we have been forced to be," Sillars
said.
When asked about the comments in a BBC radio interview on Saturday,
Sillars confirmed he had raised the prospect of nationalization but
said he had used the term to get media coverage and that
nationalization was not on the table.
A spokesman for BP declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the
Scottish nationalists could not be reached for comment.
The boss of BP, Bob Dudley, has said that Scottish independence
could cause his company "uncertainties" and that he did not want to
see Scotland drifting away.
"The heads of these companies are rich men, in cahoots with a rich
English Tory Prime Minister, to keep Scotland's poor poorer through
lies and distortions," Sillars was quoted in Scottish media as
saying. "The power they have now to subvert our democracy will come
to an end with a 'Yes'."
In an extraordinarily strong attack on business, Sillars also said
banks such as Standard Life would face tougher employment laws after
a vote for independence.
Major banks, oil companies and supermarkets have said that a vote
for secession would create concern: North Sea oil would have to be
divided up while there is uncertainty over the future currency and
central bank of an independent Scotland.
DEUTSCHE BANK WARNING
Deutsche Bank said a vote for independence would be a mistake akin
to Winston Churchill's decision to return the pound to the Gold
Standard or the failure of the Federal Reserve to provide sufficient
liquidity to the U.S. banks, decisions that helped bring on the
Great Depression.
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"These decisions – well-intentioned as they were – contributed to
years of depression and suffering and could have been avoided had
alternative decisions been taken," David Folkerts-Landau, Deutsche's
chief economist, said in a note to clients.
"Foreign investors come to Scotland because they rely on a
predictable investment environment. All of this comes from a united
Great Britain."
Such is the gravity of the situation that finance minister George
Osborne, Britain's second most powerful man, canceled a trip to the
G20 meeting in Cairns which takes place the weekend after the vote.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will leave the G20 meeting
early to be back in Britain in time for the vote. The central bank
has plans in place for a possible secession vote.
Investors pulled $27 billion out of UK financial assets last month -
the biggest capital outflow since the Lehman crisis in 2008 - as
concern mounted over the fate of the United Kingdom, a report by
London-based consultancy CrossBorder Capital showed.
Until September, all polls but one in 2013 had shown the unionists
with a comfortable lead but several surveys this month show the
nationalists have won over hundreds of thousands of Scotland's 4
million voters.
Emotions are high.
Horrified at the prospect of the breakup of the United Kingdom,
thousands of loyalists from Northern Ireland and Scotland marched
through central Edinburgh.
Armed with drums, flutes, banners, bowler hats and orange sashes,
loyalists, named for their allegiance to the British throne, said
the vote threatened their culture.
"It's your own history being taken away from you. What will you tell
your grandchildren?" said Jim Prentice, a gardener wearing a Rangers
soccer club shirt who had traveled from south of Glasgow to join the
march.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
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