Your views
Dear Editor, I have for some time been pondering on one of the most important questions of our time.
Why is it essential that Scotland remains in the European Union where we do less than 20 per cent of our trade, but must leave the rest of the UK where we do 60 per cent?
More recently, the SNP claim that leaving the EU will cost Scotland 80,000 jobs; but independence, even though there would be trade friction and tariffs, would result in no job losses.
The EU themselves admit that 95 per cent of the world’s economic growth over the next 20 years will come from outside the EU, providing the UK with great opportunities by leaving the stagnating economies of mainland Europe.
It is separation from our home market which puts our economy and jobs at risk, not Brexit.
Scotland currently has a £12 billion budget deficit which is seven per cent of our gross domestic product (seven times higher than the UK as a whole), and a large balance of payments deficit.
The SNP last year published the report of their own Sustainable Growth Commission, which was chaired by former nationalist MSP Andrew Wilson.
The main findings of the report were that –
1. A separate, stable Scottish currency should exist. The document did however set out six key tests, two of which were to get the deficit below three per cent of GDP and that Scotland should have sufficient reserves.
2. Scotland would face one of the largest financial deficits in Europe.
3. In order to cover Scotland’s share of national debt, it would require to pay at least £5.3 billion per annum for an undefined period to the UK Government.
4. The unsustainable deficit would require public spending cuts amounting to £27 billion over a 10-year period.
5. Government departments’ set-up costs would amount to £450m.
The much-respected Institute for
Fiscal Studies assessed that Scotland would face at least a decade of austerity, possibly 18 years, with spending on health, justice and education lower than elsewhere in the UK.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard branded the blueprint “a cuts commission” and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that austerity would be “here until Doomsday”.
The SNP has been in government since 2007, and every minute of that time – other than raising taxes for hardworking families – has been spent on plans for an independent Scotland.
After a successful union which has existed for over 300 years, the SNP now wish to drag us out of the UK, removing British citizenship from 5.4m Scots. I believe the majority of Scots are proud of their Scottish and British heritage.
A decision for Scotland to leave the UK should not be taken lightly for, unlike the Westminster poll to elect a parliament for five years, there is no way back.
Ronnie Wright, by email