Osborne’s Pound in Balance as Scots Weigh Destiny: U.K. Credit
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As Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne rules out the pound for an independent Scotland, options are narrowing for the nationalists in Edinburgh.
The U.K. wouldn’t enter a currency union should voters in Scotland choose to break away in a Sept. 18 referendum, Osborne said yesterday as he warned that a newly separate state would face higher borrowing costs. One possibility is to retain the pound without an agreement, though that would be too risky, he said. According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, Scots would be better off with a new legal tender if they decide to go it alone.