A Vote to Remain in the UK Is a Vote for Certainty and Stability

I have a great respect for the down-to-earth common sense of the people of Scotland and trust that on 18 September they will see through this fog of corny and misinformed SNP propaganda that has been kicked around since the 1930s and vote no to uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a nightmare for anyone running a business today. My company, run out of Scotland with 1,500 workers across the UK and 3,500 globally, needs economic and political stability to keep it healthy and allow us to continue to invest in a world-class workforce.

We need certainty on a wide range of business-crucial areas, including embassies, trade, tax, and membership of the EU. Being part of the UK has given Scottish-HQd companies like Orion certainty on these issues. The Scottish Government's White Paper wish list for independence doesn't give business any assurances on these "must dos".

But for me the biggest uncertainty of all in Mr Salmond's separation experiment is on the vitally important issue of currency. I have no confidence at all that an independent Scotland would be able to retain the pound. Running my specialist engineering recruitment business - or any company - from Scotland without stable currency arrangements is a non-starter.

Don't take my word for it on the issue of the pound, listen to the Governor of the Bank of England who has told the SNP that an independent Scotland would have to establish a central taxation body, the very thing that Salmond doesn't want. This unknown over what currency an independent Scotland would have is creating untold uncertainty and harming business confidence when we should be concentrating on recovering from recession.

I love Scotland and have built a business in Inverness that has done well under the stability that the UK brings on currency, global representation and membership of the EU. However, Alex Salmond's point blank refusal to set out a currency Plan B - as well as his reckless threat to default on our debt if he doesn't get his Eurozone style currency union means that I have to come up with a Plan B of my own. This would involve still living in Scotland, but running the business from somewhere else.

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have had to consider this. But I'd be naive not to have a Plan B if Mr Salmond gets his way and divorces us from the most successful political union in the world.

A year or two of unanswered questions and endless debate, negotiations and possibly litigation on issues like currency and the EU could spell disaster for companies like mine that are currently thriving. And for what? An experiment in narrow SNP nationalism and the unknown that offers many threats to business but very little opportunity, all in the name of sentiments that take no account of what really makes the world of global commerce tick and thrive.

I have a great respect for the down-to-earth common sense of the people of Scotland and trust that on 18 September they will see through this fog of corny and misinformed SNP propaganda that has been kicked around since the 1930s and vote no to uncertainty.

For me a vote to remain in the UK is a vote for certainty and stability that will allow those of us in business with Scotland's best interests at heart to put aside the unwelcome distraction of separation and let us get back to helping the Scottish, UK and global economy continue to recover from recession.

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