ONE of the interesting aspects of the debate about Scottish independence is that it is only the Scottish that are engaged in it.

But the referendum in Scotland in September is also about the break-up of the United Kingdom, and people living in England, Wales and Ireland should have their voices heard on that.

In a rare, and striking, moment of unanimity, the three main Westminster parties said yesterday that an independent Scotland would not be able to keep the pound.

For those of us in the UK not living in Scotland, this must surely be the right stance.

While we may not all be experts in international finance, we have all witnessed the events in the euro-zone in the last couple of years, where different governments have had different attitudes to tax and spend and to acceptable levels of debt. It is quite understandable that independent, sovereign countries should have these different views, but when they are joined by a single currency, we have all seen how the markets, in times of stress, try to rip them apart.

That is why the momentum within the European Union is for closer political and fiscal unity – it is to prevent the countries from being broken apart by the markets.

Having witnessed these events in Europe, Britain has been glad that it has not been a member of the euro. So why should it voluntarily want to create a mini-euro here within the UK?

If Scotland chooses to be independent, it would want to have independent finances. It would want to be able to fix its own tax and spend policies.

As it found its feet as a young nation, it would not want to be under the yolk of Treasury officials in foreign London.

And so tensions would begin, and the markets would be tempted to enflame those tensions, as we saw in the euro-zone.

If Scotland wants to go it alone without the rest of the union, good luck to it. But it should not be allowed to put at risk the economic stability of the rest of us in the process.