It is something of a red herring to suggest that the pound, and the right to decree monetary policy, belongs to England alone. The Scots have done just as much to make it what it is, with Scottish oil being what made sterling a stable petrocurrency and, therefore, allowed the UK to become a power a financial powerhouse in the Eighties.

Realistically, after the bluff and bluster of campaigning has passed, the UK will strike some sort of deal with Scotland because, quite simply, they don't want to be left holding the national debt. If England claims Sterling as it's own, Scotland can legally walk away from any responsibility for the banking bail-outs. None of that will happen, however, because it is in the economic interests of both to co-operate.

REMEMBER, England was furious when Ireland left the UK, and did everything they could to renege on the terms of the peace treaty, including the size of Northern Ireland. The one thing they didn't fuck with was their own economic self-interest. Ireland, as the UK's biggest trading partner, continued to use the pound Sterling for more than 50 years after independence. Think about that.

Worst case scenario, the loonies from UKIP somehow get into power and insist on punishing the Scots for daring to leave. The Scots will simply create a currency that is pegged to sterling, just like the ten other countries who have been doing so for decades, or like the 14 countries that have pegged to the dollar, or the 20 countries outside the currency union who have pegged to the Euro.

You could say that pegging would be bad, because they would not have any control of monetary policy but, actually, that is the entire problem with the current arrangement. The shift from industry to financial services, propped up by Sterling being a petrocurrency on the back of Scottish oil, is what decimated Scotland. Every decision taken in Westminster enriches London and the South-East, the rest of the UK is an afterthought.