https://sil2.e-infinitum.com/ en https://sil2.e-infinitum.com/who-gets-be-citizen-and-how-do-you-set-immigration-rules <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Who gets to be a citizen and how do you set up immigration rules?</span> <div class="field field--name-field-related-questions field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Question Answered</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">How will citizenship be determined?</a></div> </div> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="/user/18" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Stephen Richard</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu, 10/28/2021 - 15:33</span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-or-creator field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author or Creator</div> <div class="field__item">Common Weal</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><span><span><strong>Who gets to be a citizen and how do you set up immigration rules?</strong></span></span></p> <p><span><span><em>Who becomes a citizen of an independent Scotland?</em></span></span></p> <p><span><span>This is two different questions. Citizenship laws can be changed by different governments when they are elected once Scotland is independent – but there needs to be a way of defining who is a citizen at the point of independence. Anyone who has UK citizenship and is habitually resident here would get automatic citizenship – as will any of their children when they are born (even if only one parent is a Scottish citizen). Anyone who has a parent or grandparent who is eligible to be a Scottish citizen would not have automatic right to citizenship but an automatic right to apply and this could start during the transition process to independence. This could also apply to migrant workers currently in the country and students studying here at the point of independence – but that is more of a policy decision. Some initial rules would need to be set for the naturalisation process for those who applied before a post-independence government was elected (at which point all these decisions would pass to the Scottish Parliament).</span></span></p> <p><span><span><em>What about immigration?</em></span></span></p> <p><span><span>While this is a domestic policy matter that would be handled by whatever governments are elected after independence, there shouldn't be a period where immigration is impossible so the infrastructure of an immigration system and a base-level process of naturalisation should be in place to ensure continuity.</span></span></p> <p><span><span><em>What about Scots' current UK citizenship?</em></span></span></p> <p><span><span>This can't be decided by Scotland alone but Scotland would allow dual citizenship for anyone who wanted it – subject to the UK accepting that.</span></span></p> <p><span><span><em>So what would happen for citizens?</em></span></span></p> <p><span><span>The National Insurance Number is the de facto 'citizen identifier' for the UK but it is a UK number and so can't be used to identify Scottish citizens. So all the new Scottish citizens would be provided with a Citizen Identifier, a number which is unique to them which they can use in a manner similar to the way they currently use a National Insurance Number. They would also get to apply for a Scottish passport . There is an international standard for passports so there is no real complication in making passports universally accepted.</span></span></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-keywords field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/611" hreflang="en">Citizenship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/535" hreflang="en">Immigration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/689" hreflang="en">Immigration policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/613" hreflang="en">Naturalisation</a></div> </div> </div> Thu, 28 Oct 2021 14:33:29 +0000 Stephen Richard 76 at https://sil2.e-infinitum.com https://sil2.e-infinitum.com/paying-our-way-case-scottish-payment-system <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Paying Our Way: The Case For A Scottish Payment System</span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-or-creator field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Primary Author or Creator</div> <div class="field__item">Peter Ryan</div> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="/user/18" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Stephen Richard</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Sat, 09/04/2021 - 17:33</span> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-author-s-creato field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Additional Author(s) / Creators</div> <div class="field__item">Common Weal</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-date-published field--type-datetime field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Date Published</div> <div class="field__item"><time datetime="2019-04-13T12:00:00Z" class="datetime">Sat, 04/13/2019 - 12:00</time> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-category field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Category</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">How will citizenship be determined?</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-type field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Type of Resource</div> <div class="field__item">Policy Paper</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Fast Facts</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Considering only the retail sector, £80 million is removed from the Scottish economy each year in the form of transaction charges skimmed from ATM withdrawals, debit/credit card payments and other forms of transaction like Paypal and internet transfers.</p> <p>Scottish local authorities could set up a network publicly owned, not-for-profit payment system which would reduce fees for banks, businesses and consumers as well as ensuring that more money is injected back into local economies. Using the payments system for transfers within the public system would save the Scottish government a substantial amount which could be spend on more and better public services.</p> <p>A secondary effect of this national payment infrastructure would be to make it significantly easier for an independent Scotland to launch its own currency.</p></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-precis field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">More details</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Imagine you and I are an economy of two people. I pay you £100 in cash for goods. You, in turn, pay me £100 for services. Our economy ticks along just nicely exchanging goods and services with the cash transferring between us.</p> <p>But now imagine that every time we pay each other, we have to do it via some third party who takes a cut from every payment. Every time we pay each other a little money, even if it is just two or five percent, vanishes from our economy meaning that we trade fewer goods and services between ourselves. We don’t need to imagine this. This is what happens every time we make a transaction via a credit or debit card or if we pay via an electronic transfer like Paypal or Apple Pay. Even if we withdraw cash from an ATM – even if that ATM is one of the increasingly rare ones that don’t charge us directly for accessing our own cash – then our bank pays a fee. It is estimated that in the Scottish retail sector, around £80 million per year is removed from transactions in fees.</p> <p>All of these little slices of transaction fees skim money out of our economy. When the fees are being levied by a multi-national company – especially one which prides itself on “tax-efficient accounting” – that money can leave Scotland altogether.</p> <p>Scottish small and medium businesses are the ones who suffer most here. They are least able to bear the ever-increasing fees that they have to pay on each and every one of their transactions. </p> <p>Scotland is not yet ready to move to a completely cash-free society. Even though card payments overtook cash payments in 2017, there’s a long way to go before notes and coins disappear – if they ever do.</p> <p>Whether this happens or not, there is scope for Scotland to introduce its own publicly-owned Scottish Payment Service which would be run by local authorities on a not-for-profit basis. This would allow money to be injected back into Scottish local economies or used to level the playing field between small businesses and larger corporations. The Payment System may also be set up such that it would enable Scottish businesses to provide cash services in a more efficient way than current “cashback” systems and to strengthen Scottish economies struggling due to the loss of local bank branches and ATM services. If current fees are halved then across the retail sector alone, this would represent an injection of around £40 million per year into the Scottish economy.</p> <p>Finally, whilst this policy idea is possible under the current powers of devolution and is a worthy idea in and of itself, the prospect of a national payments infrastructure opens up the possibility of positive consequences for Scottish independence and the launch of a prospective Scottish currency. If the payments infrastructure is already in place and operational by the time of independence (or even by the time of an independence referendum) then it would greatly simplfy the task of adapting digital payments systems to cope with the new currency. A Scottish currency could be launched through the payments system in short order and could be used by Scottish consumers well ahead of the launch of any physical notes and coins. This would further incentivse private banks and other financial institutions to also support the new currency as the alternative – losing customers to the early adopters – would be a real prospect.</p> <p>The Scottish government does not need to wait for independence to begin implementing a Scottish Payment Initiation Service. Under the Payment Services Regulation, we could start doing this now with the finance coming from the Scottish National Investment Bank. This investment would not only save the Scottish Government money but also help to transform our retail economy.</p></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-resource-url field--type-link field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Resource Address (URL)</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Paying-Our-Way.pdf">https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Paying-Our-Way.pdf</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-keywords field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/230" hreflang="en">Cashless payments</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/308" hreflang="en">Scottish payments system</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/158" hreflang="en">Currency</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-related-questions field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Related Questions</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/9" hreflang="en">Can Scotland have an independent banking system?</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/22" hreflang="en">What currency can Scotland have when independent?</a></div> </div> </div> <div id="field-language-display"> <fieldset class="js-form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-group"> <label>Language</label> English </fieldset> </div> Sat, 04 Sep 2021 16:33:18 +0000 Stephen Richard 369 at https://sil2.e-infinitum.com https://sil2.e-infinitum.com/better-banking-public-good-banking-network-scotland <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Better Banking – A Public-Good Banking Network For Scotland</span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-or-creator field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Primary Author or Creator</div> <div class="field__item">Common Weal</div> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="/user/18" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Stephen Richard</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue, 08/17/2021 - 09:10</span> <div class="field field--name-field-date-published field--type-datetime field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Date Published</div> <div class="field__item"><time datetime="2019-01-20T12:00:00Z" class="datetime">Sun, 01/20/2019 - 12:00</time> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-category field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Category</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">How will citizenship be determined?</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-type field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Type of Resource</div> <div class="field__item">Policy Paper</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Fast Facts</div> <div class="field__item"><p>The UK has one of the least diverse retail banking systems in Europe with a disproportionately large market share for private banks and very few cooperative, mutual or public options compared to other countries.</p> <p>In Scotland particularly, bank branches have been closing at a rapid rate leaving much of the country without reliable banking services.</p> <p>A model which can enable communities to found their own local bank branch providing basic but essential services free of the risky “casino banking” of the private sector is presented.</p></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-precis field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">More details</div> <div class="field__item"><p>The UK has one of the least diverse retail banking systems in Europe with a disproportionately large market share for private banks and very few cooperative, mutual or public options compared with other countries.   Private banks (which have no public benefit obligations to customers or communities) have been closing branches at a rapid rate, leaving much of Scotland without reliable banking services. They have also engaged in extremely risky behaviour which has put the wider economy at risk.</p> <p>Having a reliable public or mutual banking sector would mean branches being returned to communities, helping to support small business development and local economies, balancing the over all risk to the economy and helping to address issues of poverty which relate to lack of banking services.  There is now an off-the-shelf ‘bank in a box’ model which can enable this to happen quickly. The Community Savings Bank Association has produced a package which enables a mutual bank to be set up very quickly (as little as 18 months from start to launch).  The total start-up costs of the bank would be in the order of £20 million; from there scaling and the number of branches would be dependent on the number of customers.</p> <p>― The bank needs to be set up by a team with the expertise and passion to create a truly mutual bank that will work for the people, the communities, the businesses and the environment of Scotland. The initial project team (who should not, as a rule, be predominantly bankers themselves) should commit to a process of meaningful stakeholder engagement and design right across the country to ensure that the bank is created with and for the people of Scotland. Common Weal believes it should be established initially as a public project and the founding team should be supported and work in close alignment with the Scottish National Investment Bank team, who should assist in the delivery and capitalisation of the bank in association with local authorities.</p></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-resource-url field--type-link field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Resource Address (URL)</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Better-Banking.pdf">https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Better-Banking.pdf</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-keywords field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/668" hreflang="en">Bank services</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/205" hreflang="en">Community banks</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/582" hreflang="en">Private banks</a></div> </div> </div> <div id="field-language-display"> <fieldset class="js-form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-group"> <label>Language</label> English </fieldset> </div> Tue, 17 Aug 2021 08:10:59 +0000 Stephen Richard 233 at https://sil2.e-infinitum.com