If Scotland walked away from the rest of the UK, Professor McKinnon says: “the distribution of supplies from warehouses in England to shops and businesses in Scotland, many of which are currently internal inventory transfers, would become international trade.” And the academic goes on to say that would "be a very costly option and result in higher prices in the Scottish shops". He makes it clear that being part of the UK “translates into lower prices in shops”.
At present it is expensive for companies to supply the Scottish market because of the long distances, lower population density and imbalances in freight traffic flows. “If an independent Scotland had a different currency and border controls were erected, the cost of distributing goods to Scotland would be further inflated. Under these circumstances, companies currently selling products and services across the UK market at a uniform price would be likely to abandon this practice”, says the logistics expert.
Alan McKinnon argues that the loss of the UK single pricing system “would significantly inflate Scottish logistics costs, raising the cost of living and impairing business competitiveness.”
Read more: Scottish Independence: the implications for logistics and pricing!
More information about Alan McKinnon.