Finance Secretary John Swinney has been forced to clarify the extent of the Scottish Government’s discussions with the Bank of England over the currency issue.
Mr Swinney told parliament yesterday it had not been his intention to give the “impression” that the government had been involved in currency union negotiations with the Bank of England during comments he made at Holyrood last week.
On Wednesday last week, the minister claimed the government has had technical discussions with the bank regarding a proposal for a currency union and welcomed its decision to implement whatever politicians decided.
But the following day, the Bank rejected his claims and said it “had not entered into discussions with representatives of the Scottish Government about proposals for future monetary arrangements in Scotland”.
Yesterday, Mr Swinney was forced to clarify his position – in what Conservative enterprise spokesman Murdo Fraser described as a “humiliating climb down”.
Mr Swinney said: “Following agreement in March 2012 from Mervyn King and as set out to the Scottish Parliament, a number of technical and factual discussions have taken place with the Bank of England.
“Following the first meeting between the first minister and Governor Mark Carney in January of this year, it was agreed that the technical discussions inaugurated by his predecessor Lord King between the Scottish Government and the Bank of England in advance of the referendum would continue.
“If by my choice of words last week I have given the impression that the Bank of England has been involved in negotiating a currency union I can say to parliament that was not my intention.”
Mr Fraser said he could not understand why it took the minister six days to set the record straight.
“It is indicative of the government’s scant credibility on this issue that John Swinney has admitted he misrepresented the position in relation to the Bank of England discussion,” he added.
“It should not have taken nearly a week for the SNP to embark on this humiliating climb down.”