SCOTLAND’S finance minister John Swinney described comments by José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, that Scotland would not be able to join the EU, as ‘‘pretty preposterous’’. He said Mr Barroso’s view was based on a false comparison.

Mr Barroso said it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a newly independent Scotland to join the EU.

Scotland would have to apply for membership and get approval of all current member states. Mr Barroso is a man who knows what he is talking about. He is more than qualified. He has been doing the same job since 2004.

All three of the main political parties in Westminster have dealt a major blow to the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) plan for sharing the UK pound.

Chancellor George Osborne, his Labour Shadow Ed Balls and Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary of the Treasury Danny Alexander have ruled out a joint currency in a key moment in the debate over an independent Scotland.

If Scotland votes yes for independence it would mean walking away from the pound.

Does the First Minister, Alex Salmond, have a Plan B?

Mr Salmond threw his dummy out of the pram by branding it a concerted bid by a Tory-led Westminster establishment to bully and intimidate. He later insisted: ‘‘People of Scotland will not be fooled by the bluff, bluster and posturing of Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander.”

Sir Nicholas MacPherson, Senior British civil servant , serving as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury said currency unions between sovereign states are fraught with difficulty. Surely the Chancellor is just protecting the interests of the rest of the United Kingdom?

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said if an independent Scotland wanted to share the pound then it would have to give up some of its sovereignty to the Bank of England. The Bank would set tax rates and interest rates in a manner described as a mini Euro zone.

If anything happens to Scotland, the Bank of England would have to bail out an independent Scotland.

In a later interview with BBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Carney said he receives his orders from Westminster and it is up to them to decide. In the Euro crisis, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and the Republic of Ireland went bankrupt because governments had different attitudes to spending, taxing and acquiring levels of debt.

All-in-all it last week was a bad week for the SNP.

Alistair Rutter, Bishop Auckland.

IT is quite obvious that David Cameron is running scared over the outcome of the vote on Scottish independence but whatever the result, it has taught this Government a lesson that life really does exist outside of the London boundaries.

T Seale, Middlesbrough.