BRUSSELS has confirmed that people living in an independent Scotland would have to pay more for children's clothes, books and newspapers the Scottish Conservatives have warned.
The Tories have pointed to a European parliamentary answer from Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, who says that new EU member states would have to apply a standard VAT rate of at least 15% on a range of goods, many of which are currently zero-rated thanks to an opt-out secured by the UK Government.
Alex Salmond would want an independent Scotland to have a fast-track EU membership completed within 18 months under the so-called Article 48 route. But the First Minister has been warned that under this route the existing member state, (the UK Government )would have to be engaged to "pilot" changes to the EU treaty.
Alistair Carmichael, the Scottish Secretary, has described the Article 48 route a "dead end" while Prime Minister David Cameron only last week stressed how an independent Scotland would have to go to the "back of the queue".
The UK Government believes an independent Scotland would have to apply for membership as an aspirant member state under the longer route of Article 49.
In response to Mr Fule's answer, Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: "The SNP needs to be upfront about this issue by informing voters that becoming independent would result in people losing out on substantial savings."
But Tasmina Ahmed-Sheik, an SNP European parliamentary candidate, said: "Scotland has been part of the EU for over 40 years and will negotiate our own voice in Europe from within; so these remarks dealing with the accession states issue are completely irrelevant."
She added: "Whether it was mobile roaming charges or driving on the right-hand side of the road, losing the pandas at Edinburgh zoo or risking attacks from outer space, the No campaign has time and again been left looking utterly foolish."
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