When the Chancellor sat down on Friday, he and the Prime Minister were both looking very pleased with themselves. They could probably hear the champagne corks popping in the Square mile even in the heart of Westminster. The overpaid directors in the boardrooms would have been licking their lips at the very thought of the huge bonuses and tax relief they could now squirrel away offshore.

However, the very same speculators and banker’s in the city although personally very happy still went about their job. This made another group of spivs very happy, the hedge funds that shortly before the Chancellor stood up to make his statement had started shorting the £.

In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of a more conventional “long” position, where the investor will profit if the value of the asset rises. There are a number of ways of achieving a short position.

Before the cheers of the Tory benches had died down the moneymen in the city had made £ Billions as the £ Sterling began its nosedive.The £, British bonds and the stock market all tumbled not long after Kwarteng unveiled £45 billion worth of tax cuts and other measures to revive the ailing UK economy. He described it as the government’s “biggest package in generations” of tax cuts. This is music to the ears of the speculators and the Tory millionaires and billionaires.

For the rest of us, the warning bells were already telling us that a financial disaster is coming. Richard Murphy one of the sane voices in the finance world was expressing his deep concern at the direction of travel by this latest Tory administration.

 

His article to back up his concern is the reality of Trussenomics!

Without QE, or simple government money creation, Kwarteng is heading us for the rocks very, very fast

There are going to be around 600,000 ‘winners’ with this mini budget and 65,000,000 losers! If you think you are struggling now then in the next few months you are going to feel as if you are drowning.Richard in his article lays out the full horrors of this financial disaster approaching us like a tsunami.

‘We cannot fund the deficit to come with market borrowing, because that will destroy the economy via a mortgage crisis. We cannot pay the interest on borrowing at the rates that will be demanded if we try to do so because that will crash public services with the resulting austerity..’

At the end of his excellent article Richard offers up a solution to mitigate the folly of Kwarteng. That is what sensible, professional experts do. Richard has looked at the facts presented to him and has offered his thoughts in how to manage the financial chaos ahead. As he himself says, he sees no alternative rather than his proffered advice. Although not a trained economist, I agree.

At this point I should also put in an advert for Through A Scottish Prism. Phil Boswell warned us right after Kwarteng’s promotion what was likely to happen and the sort of Chancellor that was being foisted upon us.

Meanwhile, in Scotland our government has nothing to offer us against all this except, the usual platitudes. No doubt Nicola has sent a strongly worded letter to No10 saying how terrible this is for Scotland and can she please, pretty please have a Section 30. Ian Blackford will no doubt get up off the comfy green benches to tell Ms.Truss that Scotland will not put up with this financial vandalism. He will sit back down again and ponder what to eat in the subsidised Westminster restaurant later. Pete Wishart will no doubt tweet out that it is all the fault of Alba. John Nicholson will blame those that refuse to accept that men can be lesbians if they so choose. The rest will just keep their heads down.

Unlike Richard there is no contingency plan. There is as far as our government is concerned nothing to do except wring our hands and say how terrible it all is for Scotland.They will attempt to assure the faithful that with independence it wouldn’t be like this! Though they wont actually follow this up with a plan on how to achieve it!

In a couple of weeks, there is the SNP Conference. No doubt all the speakers will decry our Tory Government and say how shocking it all is. Nicola will do the one thing she is good at, talk the talk. She will berate the Tories both at home and in England. She will goad Sarwar and his GSTK Labour Party. Nicola will no doubt make mention of the excellent Al Jezeera expose of the corruption and criminality within the English Labour Party. Without fail she will reprise her old favourite, I can announce today.. Fill in the blanks with some kind of BS promise that won’t come to fruition and cue more applause!

I full expect her to say that the Supreme Court must and should rule in favour of the Section 30. This will get her the applause and adulation she craves. She won’t offer up a Plan B. There will be nothing said to indicate for a minute that she sees a way out of the corner she has painted for herself. Nobody will dare to go to the podium to call out the inaction. There will be no shouts for a Plan A, B or C. the faithful will remain silent, trusting that the famous Nicola Plan is about to be deployed.

The SNP leadership will leave the Conference thinking, job well done. They will return to their comfy billets and wait and wait and wait…

Like Richard I have tried to layout the pending crisis. Like Richard I will proffer a solution. It is to me the only route out of this Tory made hell. Today Nicola needs to recall all her MPs to Edinburgh. She must convene, as promised by her on January, 2020 a Scottish Constitutional Convention. Here are her exact words!

‘In the first instance we will invite Scotland’s elected representatives – MSPs, MPs, the MEPs elected last year and council leaders – to come together to endorse a modern Claim of Right for Scotland through a new Scottish Constitutional Convention.’

Nicola Sturgeon’s statement on Scotland’s future

 

Another of those, I can announce today stunts she loves so much. This time though we cannot allow her to back out of her promise. This has to be done immediately. By Friday of this week, all the necessary arrangements can be in place. The road to independence is open she only has to take a single step and the nation will move in unison with her. I personally commit myself to support her and her party in their endeavours if she takes this course of action. I would encourage all others to do the same.

We are in a horrific position, Scotland needs a contingency plan. I can think of no other credible way than uniting the nation in a plan to end the union and escape the Tory economic madness once and for all.

If anyone else has any other credible ideas we sure need to hear them now. Waiting and hoping is not a solution Nicola. We need positive leadership and we need it now! All that is needed is the political will from you, and the Scottish people will do the rest! Stick or twist, Nicola?