NIGEL Farage dismissed out of hand the SNP's desire for a currency union, saying it was difficult to see how Scotland would be truly independent if a foreign country controlled its interest rates.
Speaking to Westminster journalists, the leader of the anti-EU UKIP denied he was England's version of Alex Salmond, saying the First Minister lived in "dreamland" if he thought Scotland could achieve independence while being a member of the European Union.
A week after the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, Mr Farage also claimed that if the former Tory leader was starting out in politics today, she would probably join UKIP because of its stance on the EU.
He said his party was "the true inheritor of Thatcher" on European policy and said many of her supporters were dismayed the Conservatives were now led by the "social democrat" David Cameron.
On the issue of an independent Scotland joining the UK in a sterlingzone, he said: "Of course, Scotland can if it wishes use sterling as a means of exchange – Panama uses the US dollar – but it is difficult to see how independent a country can be if it doesn't actually control its own currency and the interest rates that effect that currency."
Mr Farage said it was a "delicious irony" that what had "sunk" the independence campaign was the assertion by Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, that an independent Scotland seeking EU membership would have to join the euro.
"The Scottish people looked at that and said no," he added.
He went on: "You can't have it both ways... Either you are independent or you're not."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article