Scotland’s economy will lag behind rest of UK while SNP dangle indyref2 threat
Given that it has been clear for some time that Scotland’s economy is trailing the rest of the UK, it is clearly troubling that economists from the Centre for Economics and Business Research are forecasting that the whole of the UK is going to start to feel the effects of continued uncertainty (your report, 3 July).
With the UK’S growth levels predicted to fall to the lowest since 2008, the prospects for Scotland look bleak if that neg- ative differential continues. Yet Nicola Sturgeon’s recent announcement that she will keep her plans for a second referendum within easy reach as she continues to stir grievance over Brexit, suggests whatever the outcome of negotiations with the EU, the First Minister still intends to give Scotland yet more uncertainty.
The implication of this compounding of doubts over what the future will bring is that those considering investing here will instead look elsewhere for the next few years. Scotland needs a government focused on creating the best possible environment for investment, rather than one determined to disrupt progress in the blind pursuit of constitutional advantage.
KEITH HOWELL West Linton, Peeblesshire The number one difference between Scotland and the UK’S economic performance is not the constitutional issue (Martin Redfern, Letters, 1 July) but the fact that we don’t have control over national monetary and macroeconomic policies.
To be meaningful any comparator should only be made with other regions of the UK and currently Scotland is in sixth place out of the 12 UK regions in terms of growth. Also, current performance is no indicator of how an independent Scotland would fare.
The Scottish economy has been under-performing the UK for many years now. We’ve had issues about growth over the last couple of decades at least, and this is partly because the Scottish economy performs as a regional branch economy. Tory and Labour MPS vote to ensure Westminster still controls the meaningful fiscal levers over the Scottish economy and the notional Gers deficit is no advert for Scotland within the UK, particularly when compared to the economic performance of other small northern European countries like Norway, Denmark or even the Republic of Ireland.
The fact is that Scotland isn’t lagging behind the UK. The rest of the UK is lagging behind London and the south-east and everywhere in the UK suffers from London and the surrounding economy monopolising the UK economy.
FRASER GRANT Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh