Scottish banknote Bill’s progress: quantitative easing – not

David Mundell MP’s Scottish Banknotes (Acceptability in United Kingdom) Bill  (see previously here)  had its Second Reading on 6 March 2009 but the debate was “talked out” without conclusion and is due to be resumed on 24 April.

The Bill would impose a requirement on businesses not to make a distinction between Scottish and other banknotes issued in the United Kingdom as acceptable payment for goods and services. It would give powers to the Office of Fair Trading to investigate breaches of this requirement and to issue notices of compliance. The Bill would not affect the right of a business to refuse to accept banknotes which it considered to be forgeries. 

There was much merriment in the Second Reading debate about whether Mr Mundell’s Bill was a stalking horse for the Government’s “quantitative easing” policy (which means printing more banknotes to improve cash flow and thereby solve the present economic crisis – just like that), but it appears that in fact the Government does not want the Bill to pass.