{"id":96415,"date":"2026-10-17T09:49:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T08:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=96415"},"modified":"2026-10-17T09:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T08:49:41","slug":"scotlands-economic-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/10\/17\/scotlands-economic-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s economic future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>These were my speaking notes for the meeting I addressed this morning:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>SNP fringe meeting: Scotland\u2019s economic future<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Richard Murphy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> The problem is not finding the money <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>A government with its own currency creates money when it spends.<\/li>\n<li>The constraint is not money but available resources.<\/li>\n<li>Does Scotland have the people, skills, materials and capacity to deliver what it needs?<\/li>\n<li>Government\u2019s task is to identify priorities and organise resources to meet them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The challenge is finding the projects and resources, not finding the money.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> Scotland needs its own currency<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Independence without monetary sovereignty is incomplete independence.<\/li>\n<li>Using sterling means remaining dependent on decisions made in London.<\/li>\n<li>Scotland needs its own currency, central bank and payment system from day one.<\/li>\n<li>This would give Scotland the power to pursue its own economic priorities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Scottish currency is essential to making independence work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Taxation and inflation <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Government spending creates money; taxation withdraws it.<\/li>\n<li>Tax controls inflation, redistributes wealth, changes behaviour, reprices economic activity and gives money its value.<\/li>\n<li>Inflation arises when demand exceeds the capacity to supply.<\/li>\n<li>Managing inflation is an everyday responsibility, not an exceptional crisis response.<\/li>\n<li>Taxation is a more effective and equitable instrument for managing demand than interest rates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The limit to government spending is inflation, not an arbitrary financial rule.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> What Scotland should do <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify the unmet needs of Scottish society.<\/li>\n<li>Prioritise housing, healthcare, education, social care, renewable energy and infrastructure.<\/li>\n<li>Invest in skills and productive capacity to overcome resource shortages.<\/li>\n<li>Use public investment to deliver public purpose rather than private profit.<\/li>\n<li>Measure success by wellbeing, sustainability and economic security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scotland needs an economic plan, not a fiscal straitjacket.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong> A wealth transaction tax <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Scotland needs to tax wealth and financial activity more effectively.<\/li>\n<li>A tax on bank account financial flows could replace National Insurance.<\/li>\n<li>It could broaden the tax base and reduce the tax burden on work.<\/li>\n<li>It could also provide a flexible instrument for managing inflation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tax the movement of money more fairly, rather than concentrating taxation on earned income.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong> The politics of care <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>The purpose of economics is to meet human needs.<\/li>\n<li>Care is fundamental to every society but systematically undervalued.<\/li>\n<li>Government must care for people, communities and the environment.<\/li>\n<li>Public services are investments in collective wellbeing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Care should be the organising principle of Scottish economic policy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Scotland has the potential to create a prosperous, fair and sustainable economy.<\/li>\n<li>It needs its own currency, an understanding of money creation and a fair tax system.<\/li>\n<li>Above all, it needs a government willing to use its powers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201cIndependence should not simply change who governs Scotland. It should change what government believes it can achieve. The question is not whether Scotland can afford a better future, but whether it has the courage to create one.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These were my speaking notes for the meeting I addressed this morning: SNP fringe meeting: Scotland\u2019s economic future Richard Murphy The problem is not finding<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/10\/17\/scotlands-economic-future\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,136,204,35,122,16,147,174,224,106,223,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banking","category-city-of-london","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-election","category-ethics","category-inequality","category-modern-monetary-theory","category-neoliberalism","category-politics","category-politics-of-care","category-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96416,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96415\/revisions\/96416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}