WE’RE LEAVING EU TODAY AFTER 47 YEARS...
And here a leading Scots political commentator tells how the 1973 dream soured, and asks: why did we ever doubt ourselves?
Most scots won’t remember much about life before the European Union (or European Economic Community, as it was called) before we joined on January 1, 1973. And many have lived their entire lives as EU citizens. I led the Leave campaign in scotland four years ago, but even I can understand the reasons why the politicians of the day took us in (without a referendum, mind you).
Back in the 1970s, Britain was beset by strikes, rampant inflation and poor economic growth. We were known as ‘the sick man of Europe’ – and it was hard to disagree with that description.
the optimism of the immediate post-war years had evaporated, replaced by a profound pessimism about the future. Joining other, apparently more successful and prosperous, European nations in a ‘common market’ seemed a sensible way forward.
If we couldn’t thrive on our own, perhaps we could at least get some international help to manage our decline.
But we’re no longer in decline. And tonight, that phase of Britain’s life comes to an end.
At precisely 11pm, we will cease to be a member of the EU. the Union Flag will no longer fly alongside the emblems of the 27 other member states and UK MEPs will no longer sit in the European Parliament.
this represents the biggest constitutional change we have seen since the scottish parliament was founded, and it’s natural that many scots will have misgivings about what is happening. Because although nearly two in every five of us voted Leave in 2016, a majority wanted to remain in the EU.
so as our new post-EU life begins, it’s vital that our political leaders make the most of the new opportunities that Brexit affords, whether they themselves voted for it or not.
Despite the many predictions and warnings of economic and societal collapse in the event of our leaving the EU, there now exists – beyond die-hard pro-EU activists who will never accept defeat – an acceptance across the country that we must make the most of our new status.
And opportunities certainly exist. Much will depend on Boris Johnson’s ability to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal with our former EU partners, and few believe such an agreement is not possible. trade is at the very heart of the Brexit argument; few of us even realised that as members of the EU it was actually illegal for us to strike new comprehensive trade deals with third countries.
For decades, that was the responsibility of EU negotiators. It was odd that a nation that had built its wealth on international trade (the woolsack in the House of Lords, on which the Lord speaker sits, represents that very principle) was prevented from making its own decisions about with whom it traded.
If you lump all 27 countries of the EU together, then that represents our biggest export market – 44 per cent of all goods that we send abroad (down 10 per cent in the past decade).
But the country that receives more British exports than any single European nation is the United states. Even in the absence of a comprehensive free trade deal, the Us and the UK are the biggest international
investors in each other. New trade deals with America and other nations around the globe will bring wealth and opportunities to Scots willing to take advantage of our new trading arrangements.
Domestically, there are opportunities, too. In the past four years our political leaders have failed to start thinking about what policies they might introduce once we no longer have to obey Brussels.
BACK in April 2016, Nicola Sturgeon told the STUC (Scottish Trades Union Congress) in Dundee that under her Government, any company that avoided tax would be prevented from bidding for public sector contracts.
Few would disagree with such a policy. What she failed to mention, however, was that such a change would be illegal while we remained members of the EU – public procurement is tightly controlled by Brussels.
Yet the First Minister campaigned to stay in the EU and stop the implementation of the policy she had announced.
Miss Sturgeon was presented with the opportunity to accept the result of the referendum gracefully and to press her case with UK ministers for an overhaul of public procurement policy after we left the EU. Alas, she was not alone in failing to grasp that opportunity.
Our universities are failing the poorest school leavers in Scotland because ‘free’ tuition has meant a restrictive cap on the number of places available.
As members of the EU, we were obliged to consider university applications from EU citizens from outside the UK on an equal basis as Scottish applicants; it was illegal to show preference to a Scottish applicant over a Swedish or a German one. And EU students continue to receive their education for free, paid for by Scottish taxpayers.
Why shouldn’t EU students in future be treated exactly the same as other international students and be forced to pay for their education?
They would still want to study here, they would still be welcome here, but they would be treated differently from Scottish students. Such a change used to be supported by SNP ministers, until the EU warned them it would be illegal.
To do so now would free up nearly £100million of public cash – on top of the new fees they would have to pay to study here – and this money could be spent on awarding university places to teenagers from the poorest backgrounds.
The opportunities for Scottish farmers and fishing communities are obvious.
The EU’s Common Fisheries and Agricultural policies have been a disaster, resulting in unbalanced subsidies and industry-threatening restrictions on what we’re allowed to catch in our own waters.
INSTEAD of fighting to reverse the result of the 2016 referendum, our politicians could have been making a positive contribution to the shape of the rules and regulations we should be following after Brexit. They could have been considering how best to take advantage of our new status instead of complaining about it.
It took last month’s decisive Conservative victory at the general election to concentrate minds on the reality of Brexit.
Those politicians who now, belatedly, start to consider the best way to make Britain – and Scotland – prosper outside of the EU will receive the gratitude of voters who are tired of the four-year Brexit bunfight we’ve had to endure.
Having spent the best part of 50 years in the comforting embrace of a multinational institution, it is entirely natural for Scots to worry about the future, especially when every news report on job losses, low productivity and balance of payments deficits will be gleefully blamed on Brexit, as if we never had to cope with bad economic news (not to mention four recessions) during our membership.
None of this means that life after the EU will be perfect, and no one would expect that. But the warnings of doom are misplaced. Free from the oversight of Brussels, Scotland can help make Britain the greatest country in Europe. And beyond.