MSP urges residents to remain in the union
Communities in Rutherglen and Cambuslang are being urged to back the EU by the area’s MSP.
Clare Haughey last week backed a motion at the Scottish Parliament for the UK to remain in the union.
With a referendum on the country’s place in the EU now just three weeks away, she said a remain vote would protect Scottish jobs and workers rights.
However, her claims were rubbished by the leave campaign.
Ms Haughey said over 300,000 Scottish jobs were estimated by the Centre for Economic and Business Research to be directly and indirectly associated with exports to the EU in 2011.
She said the EU is the top destination for Scottish exports, receiving 42 per cent of Scotland’s International exports in 2014, worth more than £11 billion.
According to Ms Haughey, the EU protected workers’ right not to be discriminated against and the right to 14 weeks maternity leave with sick pay and parental leave.
She added: “With less than a month until the polls open for the EU referendum – it is vital that we speak up and speak out about the many ways in which the EU benefits Scotland.
“Whether it’s preventing the exploitation of workers, protecting the right to maternity leave or improving opportunities for young people to work and study abroad– the EU has a positive legacy of achievement in which we should be proud to have played our part.
“Access to the single market of 500 million people – with an estimated 300,000 Scottish jobs associated with exports to the EU – offers Scotland incomparable trading opportunities which are key to our future economic prosperity.”
However, King’s Park man Tom Harris, who is leading the leave campaign in Scotland, questioned Ms Haughey’s claims.
He said: “Almost everything she has said is a myth.
“The academic whose work the jobs claim is based on has dismissed that completely and it’s very disappointing of the remain campaign to quote that.
“We actually export more to countries outside the EU than inside and if we look at Scotland, 15 per cent of exports go to the EU, 21 per cent go outside and 64 per cent go to the rest of the UK.
“If we want Scotland to prosper, we must leave the EU so the Scottish Parliament can get more powers. My challenge to Clare Haughey is, why does she trust Brussels to run our fishing industry more than her own SNP ministers?”
On workers’ rights, he said: “Every major step has been taken by the Uk Government, not the EU.
“The national minimum wage, protection from discrimination, record maternity time: these were brought in by Labour governments.
“The EU does not protect workers, it will sometimes replicate national governments, but why should we need Brussels to protect workers’ rights?”