Tories wouldn’t recognise day job if they fell over it
AS THE Tory leadership circus continues to dominate the news cycle, the Westminster Parliament is paralysed – hamstrung by self-interested Tory party that wouldn’t recognise its day job if it fell over it.
In the House of Commons, both Tory and Labour Brexiteers are taking Scotland down a path to economic ruin that it didn’t vote for.
Numerous economists, and even the Bank of England, have spoken out about the threat of a recession as a result of the UK’s Brexit obsession.
Westminster politicians are actively pursuing a policy that will make Scotland poorer. We already have a measure of how Brexit has affected the UK’s economy, and we haven’t even left yet.
This road to economic ruin has been completely avoidable. The SNP has argued for Scotland’s vote to Remain to be respected, and is still standing up for those sectors expected to be worst-hit by a disastrous no-deal Brexit.
For so many people across Scotland and the UK, the woeful economic future of Brexit comes on top of a decade of failed Tory austerity. Cruel policies like the bedroom tax have been mitigated in Scotland, but Holyrood cannot be viewed as simply a mitigator of the worst of Tory policy. With the full powers of independence, these horrific Westminster policies could be consigned to the dustbin of history.
We already know the Tories cannot be trusted to deliver for Scotland. Just one example is their failure to target Scotland’s farmers with European CAP funding, which saw Scotland shortchanged by £160 million. It’s only during the throes of a leadership campaigns that they have admitted their mistake.
In the European Union, Scotland sees group of independent nations working
AS AN MP for a Highland constituency, I was delighted to read that the Highlands was voted the happiest part of Scotland to live.
Of course, living in the Highlands is not without its difficulties, but those who have spent any time here will know that the warmth of the people is palpable.
together to make the world’s biggest trading bloc ever more prosperous and successful.
We only need to look to Ireland to see its success – a small, independent nation which has used EU membership to clearly outperform the United Kingdom economically.
Independence in Europe gives Scotland the opportunity, through full powers, to grow our economy. With the important levers at Holyrood, not Westminster, our nation gains the ability to make decisions in Scotland’s best interests, and the power to shape an inclusive economy that works for everyone.
Scotland has a cast-iron mandate to consider its future as an independent nation in Europe. The SNP won the Holyrood election in 2016 with a mandate for an independence referendum, and a majority of MSPs voted in favour of giving Scotland that choice.
Our future in the United Kingdom is bleak. Both candidates to be the next Tory Prime Minister refuse to rule out a disastrous no-deal Brexit and are hell-bent on dragging Scotland out of Europe – no matter the cost.
Boris Johnson even goes so far as to say a pound spent in Croydon is of more value than a pound in Strathclyde.
Scotland cannot leave our economy at the mercy of Westminster. It’s time to deliver a better future for our nation.