Sturgeon ready to hear fears of EU citizens in Scotland

NICOLA Sturgeon will hear the Brexit fears of EU citizens living in Scotland face-to-face this week as the Scottish Cabinet holds a special meeting to discuss Europe. The First Minister will take part in a question and answer session with hundreds of EU citizens at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh on Wednesday. Around 450 people so far have signed up for the event, at which Sturgeon will underline her commitment to protecting “Scotland’s relationship with and place in Europe”.

Participants are expected from 24 of the 27 EU states outside the UK, plus as many as six non-EU countries, and will have the chance to discuss Brexit with the government’s top politicians.

Last week, she announced a £100m stimulus package for the Scottish economy, but was later criticised after it emerged this was not new money, but part of last year’s underspend.

The day after the UK voted 52-48 to Leave the EU and Scotland voted 62-38 to Remain, Sturgeon used her first public announcement to reassure EU citizens directly. “You remain welcome here, Scotland is your home and your contribution is valued,” she said.

Last night, as she looked ahead to the Edinburgh event, Sturgeon said: “Scotland spoke loudly and clearly when it delivered an unequivocal vote to remain in the EU. It is my duty as First Minister to speak on behalf of all Scottish citizens, including those who have chosen to come from other parts of the EU and make Scotland their home. They have brought a wealth of social, economic and cultural benefits and have enriched our society. And as I said on the day after the referendum, they remain very welcome here.

“My Cabinet and I are determined to provide reassurance and certainty, wherever we can, to those who have come to Scotland and have con- tributed so valuably. Our priority is to protect Scotland’s interests, and the interests of everyone living, working and studying here. That’s why I, alongside my Cabinet, am considering all possible options to protect Scotland’s continuing relationship with, and place in, Europe for future generations.”

The SNP also highlighted a new Ipsos Mori poll yesterday which suggested a backlash to Brexit across Europe could hit Scotland’s tourism market and food and drink industries. The survey of 6,000 people across eight EU states found 26 per cent less likely to visit the UK in light of Brexit, compared to eight per cent more likely and 66 per cent no change. More than a third of French and Italians polled said they were less likely to visit now. Around 27 per cent of people from the EU also said they were now less likely to buy British goods or services, compared to seven per cent more likely and 66 per cent no change.

The EU is the biggest export market for Scottish food, valued at £1.9bn in 2015. SNP MSP Ashten Regan-Denham, a member of Holyrood’s European Committee, said: “These are very concerning findings. We may never know that total cost of the Brexit vote in terms of lost revenue and trade, but already it seems that it is likely to have a very serious impact on the Scottish economy. All of this is yet further evidence that Scotland needs to protect its place in the EU by whatever means possible.”

However the fall of the pound against the euro means the buying power of Eurozone citizens has shot up since the Brexit vote – a factor that could also stimulate spending in the UK.

Bobby Duffy, managing director of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute, added: “There seems to be little sign of outright antagonism from the EU public, but a minority already says they may avoid British goods and visits to the country. A backlash among the public in the EU is the last thing the UK economy can afford.”

THE UK-wide vote for Brexit is a defining political moment of our age. As is Scotland’s far more emphatic, but thwarted, choice to Remain. But while headlines may dwell on the bald statistics, this is also a defining moment of a more subtle kind.

Scotland is presenting itself to the world with a heightened profile and sense of purpose.

Showing it rejects a narrow-minded retreat from the global stage; that it is a country moving forward with arms open, not scowling and shuffling backward with arms folded.

This week Nicola Sturgeon will spur on this self-definition process by hosting a special event for EU nationals in Scotland.

She first highlighted their predicament the morning the Brexit result came in.

“You remain welcome here, Scotland is your home and your contribution is valued,” she said.

It was a reminder that among the wreckage scattered by the Leave campaign are 173,000 EU nationals, thousands of them children, living in Scotland with uncertain futures.

Although there has thankfully not been the surge in reports of racism seen south of the border, these fami- lies must still live under the shadow of Brexit, wondering if they will soon be forced to leave their homes, jobs, schools and friends.

On Wednesday, the First Minister will hear some of their concerns first hand, and offer what comfort she and her cabinet can, promising to fight their corner through the Brexit process.

This is to be welcomed as a positive thing in its own right, as well as taken as another sign that Scotland’s divergence from the rest of the UK is now incontrovertible.

As we report today, there are also urgent economic reasons for Scotland to define itself anew.

A poll of thousands of EU citizens found an emerging backlash against the UK over Brexit.

More than a quarter of respondents said it had made them less likely to visit the UK on holiday, and around the same number were more reluctant to buy British goods and services.

With EU tourists spending more than £800bn a year in Scotland, and Scottish food and drink exports to Europe generating almost £2bn, those findings are a grave concern.

The First Minister’s message to EU citizens, both at home and abroad, that Scotland is different, that it is not the same as the rest of the UK, has never been more vital.