The raging wrangling around the benefits or otherwise of Scotland becoming independent continues apace, though possibly largely on Twitter and blogs rather than in pubs and coffee shops across the nation. The SNP seemingly has the upper hand with the unionist camp reportedly reduced to trying to set its own referendum that fits with their timescales, a risky ploy that, despite clear merit, may result in a Scottish backlash from the masses.

I do wonder however if David Cameron has an ace up his sleeve that would send the SNP spiralling into disarray, a simple, single line that he just needs to publicly utter that would be game, set and match for the unionists. That line would be as follows: “A United Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland would not recognise the currency of Scotland if it sought to use Sterling against our express wishes”

What could FM Salmond and the SNP realistically do then? Proceed with saying Scotland will use Sterling even though the political leaders of the Bank of England have said No? Do we really aspire to being the “naughty neighbours” leeching off down south’s pounds and pence? Is it not a bit like divorcing your partner and asking to still borrow their purse or wallet?

We are seeing right now what a basketcase country can do to a shared currency, with Germany and France amongst others looking on aghast as small Greece pulls the Euro down into the mire. It is unlikely to ever happen of course, but why should rUK run the risk of Scotland doing the same to Sterling? Why shouldn’t England, Wales and Northern Ireland want to protect its currency within its own borders during these troubled times? Look at the mess that Ireland got into with banks that were too big to fail but also too big to support; rUK shouldn’t be expected to take a punt on its currency in similar circumstances closer to home.

The problem with the Euro is that the Continent has seen a union of currencies but no fiscal union. So if Scotland wants to loosen its fiscal union with the UK, then so it follows that a loosening of the currency could follow, and David Cameron is well within his rights to argue that it should follow. It’s not petty and it’s not foolhardy of unionists to argue so, despite what some in the SNP would believe, but it does happen to be a good strategy for completely undermining the Nats.

It has been suggested that it is not David Cameron’s decision to make, that Scotland can use the Sterling regardless of what England or Mervyn King or George Osborne says. Well, I don’t think it’ll work that well in reality and I certainly don’t think that the proud people of Scotland would like the idea of being a Western version of Cambodia, a country that uses the US dollar as its de facto currency like some sort of sovereign scoundrel.

The SNP has pegged too much of its credibility on Sterling and changing tack now to suggesting that a Scottish currency is Plan A would see its independence chances done for (assuming that championing the Euro remains political suicide for the next few years).

I personally believe that a Scottish pound would be a great idea, it gives us the opportunity to be nimble enough to have export-led recovery during tough times and import-led booms during the good times, not to mention plenty of cheap holidays.

Why does the world need a new currency one could reasonably ask. Why does the world need a new country one could reasonably counter.

Perhaps there is a way for Salmond to raise the bar, to raise his party’s vision beyond clinging to the currency that we know. Perhaps the FM could deliver a speech searing with soaring rhetoric that pleads for activists and the public alike to dare to be the equals of the Swedens and the Norways, to embrace the idea of a small country with a big currency, powered by a roaring economy. That standing up for ourselves means going the whole way, a truly clean slate upon which to build a better nation in the mould that Scots want. I’d cheer, I’d clap, but I don’t see Salmond gambling that enough Scots would follow his words with their votes. We just don’t like change enough to do it.

So until then, Alex Salmond seems to want the Bank of England and Westminster to dance to his tune for his own party’s convenience, despite wanting to pull Scotland out of the union. It won’t work. It can’t work, and it’s only a matter of time before Cameron, Osborne, Clegg or someone else publicly and decisively calls him on it. It would be a challenge that even the First Minister’s trademark chuckle couldn’t shake off and could quite possibly ruining irrevocably the SNP’s chances of a Yes result.

Don’t believe me? I’ll bet you any number of your British pounds. (I don’t take Euros)