Salmond was responding to a series of attacks on the independence campaign over the last 10 days, including a speech from the chancellor George Osborne on February 13 ruling out currency union. 

European Commission president Jose Barroso said yesterday it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for Scotland to join the EU. 

Opponents of ending the 307-year-old UK argue that it carries a series of risks. Salmond responded yesterday that such threats would be abandoned in the event of a “yes” vote in September’s referendum, to be replaced with negotiations based on “enlightened self-interest”. 

Denying Scots a currency union “would be impossible to sell to English business, to be charged by their own chancellor for the privilege of exporting goods to Scotland,” Salmond told supporters in Aberdeen, northeast Scotland, “If you remove oil and gas from the equation, Scotland is one of the very few countries in the world with which England has a balance-of-trade surplus.”  cn domain   hk domain   pw domain 

Salmond also questioned Barroso’s assertion that Scots would struggle to rejoin the EU. “The decision is one for member states, but not to recognise the democratic will of Scotland would run counter to the entire European Union ideal of democratic expression and inclusion.” 

Osborne yesterday called Salmond “a man without a plan” and said the first minister had failed to respond in his speech to the economic arguments he’d put forward last week. 

“Detailed analysis and independent advice shows clearly that what is best for Scotland is keeping the stable and durable currency union we have now,” the chancellor said. “The only way to do that is to keep the UK together.”  cn domain   hk domain   pw domain 

The argument over Scotland’s constitutional future is heating up after polls last month showed the first significant movement in support of independence. Salmond’s blueprint for autonomy envisages an independent state on March 24, 2016, with sterling and talks with the EU based on Britain’s current terms. 

A survey by ICM Research for the Scotland on Sunday newspaper in January found 37% of respondents would vote for independence, up 5% from a comparable poll in September. Those in favour of staying part of the UK dropped to 44% from 49%.  cn domain   hk domain   pw domain 

Since then, Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to people in the rest of Britain to persuade Scots not to leave, while Osborne travelled to Edinburgh to make his speech on the pound.

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