Alistair Darling seems to be a sucker for punishment. He was chancellor of the exchequer on the blackest day of the global financial crisis in the autumn of 2008, when the Royal Bank of Scotland was forced to tell the government that its cash machines would run out of money within three hours. Six years on, Darling has another exceptionally tough job: fronting the campaign seeking to prevent Scotland voting for independence on 18 September as the polls show support for his side slipping.
In a faint echo of those turbulent days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the City has woken up to the possibility that the Scots will decide to go it alone. Sunday's YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showing the first ever lead for yes albeit at 51% to 49% should clarify thinking further. The Bank of England has begun to draw up contingency plans to cope with the potential fallout from the end of a union that has lasted for more than 300 years.
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