With the referendum date coming close on Thursday on Sept 18th 2014, the result is too close to call. But with news coming each day such as The Royal Bank of Scotland relocating to London, the investment giant, Standard Life also saying moving to England, the stakes are high.
One also needs to see the latest news from the UK telecoms companies.
The cost of doing business is bound to increase, that ultimately is paid for the by the end user consumer. So let us examine telecoms in more detail.
Looking at say Virgin Media, the cost of looking after a customer in rural Scotland compared to looking after a customer in an English town like Ipswich, there is a massive difference.
Firstly, the length of the line in Scotland will be longer than say in Ipswich, that is just simple geography. So looking after the network in Scotland means more cost, due to a larger physical length of network and of course network components. That means for example Virgin Media’s costs of looking after a Scottish customer is very likely to be more expensive. This could mean the cost for telecoms services in Scotland could be higher than say in Ipswich in England.
Also will Scotland need a new telecoms regulator ?
Currently we have Ofcom for the UK, but now does the Scottish government need to set up a new government department ? Who will pay for it ? The customers and industry end up paying and thus more cost.
Where do these costs stop ?
Will the Scottish government open up say 190 embassies in the 190 or so countries in the world ? Who will pay for this ? Ahhhh, the Scottish tax payer. Just imagine the cost of setting up 190 new embassies, and the cost of all the diplomats, cars, embassy accommodation, ambassadors to hire and the housing, and flights back to Edinburgh. It is going to be billions.
And of course, they claim to want to use the £Sterling. Ahhhh, the central bank will be in a potential foreign country, England. So that means Scottish economic policy will be driven from London. Clearly the cost of doing business in Scotland will rise when the actually monetary policy will be controlled from London.