Scotland’s economy would prosper if it went its own way

There may well be political, cultural and historical reasons for maintaining the union, says Matthew Lynn. But economically, Scotland would be better off going it alone.

The timetable has been set, and the question agreed. The English and the Scots can now have a proper debate about whether they want the union to continue or not.

In the run-up to the referendum in the autumn of 2014, we can expect to hear a lot from the pro-union camp about how an independent Scotland would be an economic basket case. It would be addicted to high and increasingly unaffordable state spending, and it would have few globally competitive industries.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.