Your Personal Information
This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data SB Supports The Union Ltd (“we“, “us“) collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.
Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. By visiting the Site you are accepting the practices described in this policy.
We are the data controller for the purposes of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) (law as of 25 May 2018) in respect of the personal information that we hold about you.
If you have any questions, comments and requests regarding your personal data you can contact us at [email protected].
If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you can contact us [email protected] and / or notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) by calling their helpline on: 0303 123 1113.
We will collect the following personal information about you:
We will use your personal information for the following purposes:
We will process your personal information on the following legal basis:
Your data will only be shared with third parties and software platforms where you provide express consent for this. We will never sell your personal information to third parties.
We compile anonymous records of user trends which we may make use of ourselves, or pass to our associated companies. The information we pass on will not include any personal information by which you may be identified.
We will comply with any court order requesting or requiring the disclosure of the identity or location of or any other information in relation to anyone who has accessed the website and we may also disclose such information where we are advised by our lawyers that a court order would be granted requiring us to disclose it, even if no legal proceedings have been commenced in relation to the same.
We will not hold your Personal Information for any longer than is necessary for the “uses” outlined above, unless we are required to keep your Personal Data to comply with the law and any regulatory requirements.
The data you supply via this website is being processed by Scottish Business UK.
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Unfortunately, despite our measures, because of the nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that your information will remain at all times 100% secure. The continuing efforts of hackers to defeat even the newest of security systems means that we can never make this promise.
We do not collect “special categories of personal data” about our supporters (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data), unless we have your express consent. Clear notices will be provided on application forms for such events so that it is clear what information we need and why we need it.
All special categories of personal data are stored on a secure database, to which only a limited number of relevant staff have access. It is deleted when no longer relevant, is never shared with third parties, and is available to you at any point should you wish to see it.
We may also use your email address and phone number to match to your account on Facebook or other social media sites in order to show you content from us while using these services. No data we hold about you is retained by the third party.
In addition, we may also use your email address and phone number to link to Facebook or other social media sites in order to identify other users of these sites whom we believe would be interested in our campaign. No data we hold about you is retained by the third party. You can opt out of this via the settings on the social media site.
We will not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area without informing you beforehand.
The Site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of the Site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse the Site and also allows us to improve the Site. We may run analytics to understand more about:
We also use page tagging techniques to help us improve the website. You can find out more about cookies and their use at this link: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cookiesandyou.com/
We and any advertisers and/or advertising networks who piver advertisements to you may use cookies, pixel tags (also known as web beacons), and other similar technologies to measure and track general user activities on the website. Advertising partners will serve advertisements that they believe are most likely to be of interest to you, based on information about your visit to the website and other websites. In order to do this, our advertising partner may need to place a cookie on your computer.
You have certain rights in relation to your personal information. You can exercise your rights by contacting us at: [email protected].
Requests for information, deletion or correction of your personal data can also be obtained by writing to [email protected] or:
The Data Protection Officer, Scottish Business UK, Archibald Hope House, Eskmills Park, Station Road, Musselburgh, EH21 7PQ.
If you have contacted us and are still concerned about the use of your data, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office here: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
We may revise and update this Privacy Notice from time to time (for example if we change our practices, add new site features, or change existing site features). You should check this page from time to time to ensure you are happy with any changes. Your use of this site following such changes constitutes your agreement with regard to information collected from you in the past and in the future.
In addition to this website we may also collect data in the following ways:
We will use this data to keep you up to date with our work, our campaign activity and to let you know how you can support us where we have your consent to do so. You can always withdraw your consent at any time.
We’ve set out the currency options for a newly independent Scotland. Find out what they would mean for you.
The interest rates offered on government debt have to respond to the market’s willing to lend at those rates. There are several factors that mean that Scotland’s interest rates are likely to be higher than those offered by the UK. These can be thought of as ‘premiums’ which are applied to the current rate of interest.
Liquidity premium: Scotland is a smaller economy, with a smaller total debt pile than the UK. This means the market for its debt will be smaller. There will be fewer people looking to buy and sell its debt at any given moment. This means that the government will have to offer a more attractive interest rate in order to ensure that its debt can be shifted, and to keep the market moving. This is estimated to be 0.7-1.7% in a normal interest rate environment. During the past decade of very low interest rates, experts estimated it at 0.4-0.9%
Initial premium: A new currency has to rely on new and untested fiscal and monetary institutions. In the early days of such a scenario, lenders will demand a premium on debt offered by a government to cover the risk that its institutions are not well set up to maintain economic stability. This is estimated to be of the order of 1% when a new currency is launched. Over time, this initial premium should fall.
Exchange risk premium: A new Scottish pound would be expected to fall in value by 20-30% against the British pound. Even after such an event, there would be expected to be volatility in its value, whilst the currency was establishing itself, and whilst a market equilibria is found. This risk of variability in the exchange rate would be factored into an additional premium on the debt, as changes in that rate affects the value of the debt and interest paid.
If the Scottish pound depreciated by 25% against the British pound, it would be worth £0.75. If we wanted to buy a pint of milk for £1 (British) using Scottish pounds, it would now take (1/0.75 =) 1.33 Scottish pounds. So for Scottish people, a devaluation of 25% causes the cost of buying foreign goods and services to increase by 33%. A 20% devaluation increases costs by 25%, and a 30% fall would increase import prices by 43%.
When a new Scottish currency is launched, its value will be determined on the financial markets. The value of a currency is influenced by a range of factors that help central banks and investors to judge its ‘fair value’. The current account balance is the most important input, but others such as productivity and total debt also play a role.
Scotland’s economic data suggests that a Scottish pound would be worth 20-30% less than a British pound. The current account deficit is estimated to be far worse than the UK’s, as is the fiscal deficit.
Balance of Payments (Current Account) Deficit: Data from the Scottish National Accounts Programme indicates that Scotland has run a persistent onshore trade deficit over the whole period it covers (1998-2020) and the deficit has risen sharply since 2017 with an increase from 6.0 to 8.3% of GDP. The most recent calculations for the offshore account and net primary income are for 2017. Using this data yields a current account deficit of 10% of GDP in 2017, and given past historical estimates of the current balance are similar, there can be little doubt that as things stand an independent Scotland would inherit a current account deficit of at least this magnitude. The UK’s deficit has ranged between 2% and 5% in the last couple of decades.
Fiscal Deficit: Prior to the pandemic, the GERS (Government Expenditure Review Scotland) showed a deficit of 9.2-10.8% of GDP from 2016/17 to 2019/20 excluding the north sea, or 7.7-10.1% including the North Sea. There was a spike in 2020/21 (23.8% of GDP without the North Sea, 22.4% with). This year, the war in Ukraine has driven up oil and gas prices, which means that the deficit figure is likely to be lower than usual. Fundamentally, Scotland’s fiscal deficit is around 10% of GDP. In 2016-19, this was 2-3% for the UK government, although the pandemic and energy crisis have caused short terms increases. If Scotland were to take its share of UK debt with it into independence, it would have a debt to GDP ratio of around 100% which is also relatively high.
Our goal is to help people to understand how Scottish independence, and the choice Scotland makes for its currency, would impact them and why.
Our work is based on analysis by one of Scotland’s leading economists, Professor Ronald MacDonald.
Sign up to receive updates from us.