The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Scottish secretary criticised for impact study ‘silence’
The Scottish secretary has been criticised for his “deafening silence” over leaked Brexit impact papers.
Writing to David Mundell MP, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP called on him to heed the “grim” analysis and press for Scotland’s place in the single market and customs union.
The leaked papers say Brexit could hit Scottish growth by 9% in a ‘no deal’ scenario, 6% with a free trade deal and 2.5% with continued membership of the single market.
Mr Blackford said: “It is completely unprecedented that the UK Government is deliberately pursuing a policy which its own analysis warns will have catastrophic consequences on the UK economy.
“David Mundell’s silence has been deafening in the face of such grim analysis, and there are questions to answer for the Scottish Secretary when he denied there was Scotland-specific analysis – which we now know to be false.
He added that the Scottish secretary had been “shunned” from Prime Minister Theresa May’s so-called war cabinet and is “fast losing credibility” when it comes to “standing up” for Scotland.
The leaked study, drawn up for the Department for Exiting the EU, concluded the UK economy would lose out whatever Brexit deal was struck with the EU.
The Scottish Government had previously released its own analysis of what impact leaving the EU will have on Scotland, which found similar results.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “These claims are wrong. The UK Government will achieve the best deal for Scotland and the whole of the UK as we leave the EU.”