AN independent Scotland that ran into financial difficulty might have to be bailed out by the rest of the UK, one of Britain's top economists has suggested.
AN independent Scotland that ran into financial difficulty might have to be bailed out by the rest of the UK, one of Britain's top economists has suggested.
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MICHAEL SETTLE UK POLITICAL EDITOR
Alternatively, Robert Rowthorn, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Cambridge University, also suggested a prosperous independent nation would not need outside help and would be a valuable trading partner for the rest of the UK.
In evidence to a House of Lords inquiry on the economic implications of Scottish independence for the UK – which is hoping to call First Minister Alex Salmond later in the year – the academic estimated an independent Scotland could face a national debt as high as £120 billion with annual interest payments of more than £5bn. In such circumstances, he told peers: "It would be rational for the Nationalists to seek to minimise Scotland's responsibility for the national debt."
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