UK set to regain AAA credit rating

THE announcement that the UK’s credit rating is to be restored to the top triple A level has led to warnings that independence for Scotland poses a greater risk to its economy.

By DAVID MADDOX Friday, 13th June 2014, 8:56 pm

The UK government is set to regain its AAA credit rating, which it lost in 2012. Picture: TSPL

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor (S&P) has announced that the UK is now worthy of a triple A rating which is lost in 2012 in what is seen as a boost for Tory Chancellor George Osborne’s economic policy.

However, the announcement comes a few weeks after another credit rating agency Moody’s warned that an independent Scotland would start at least two levels lover on A.

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A lower international credit rating means that governments have to pay more interest on loans and this feeds down on to personal loans and mortgages for individuals and businesses.

In February S&P said that Scotland faced “substantial risks” but added that they were “not insurmountable”.

A spokesman for the pro-UK campaign group Better Together said: “Being part of the UK keeps costs down for Scottish families. It’s clear that if we leave the UK then the cost of mortgages, credit card bills and car loans would rise.

“As part of the UK we can have the best of both worlds for Scotland. We can have a strong Scottish Parliament, with the guarantee of more powers for Scotland, backed up by the security that comes from being part of the larger UK economy. Only separation puts that at risk and that is why we should say No Thanks on September 18.”

But a spokesman for SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “It is S&P’s who have said that - even without North Sea oil - an independent Scotland will qualify for their ‘highest economic assessment’.

“And the No camp should be careful - the last time they highlighted credit ratings was just as the UK was being stripped of its AAA status.”