Blaming Brexit

I have waited in vain for one of our Opposition MSP leaders to challenge the SNP assertion, constantly repeated, that leaving the EU will be a disaster for the Scottish economy. Thisclaimappearstobebased on the Snp-commissioned report by the Fraser of Allender Institute that Brexit would cost the Scottish economy anything from 30,000-80,000 jobs. The lower figure is never mentioned, nor is the qualifications to the conclusions, e.g. depending on the assumptions made and if no mitigating measures were taken.

The conclusions of that report were widely criticised at the time and some hard facts produced. It is clear that the EU is not hugely relevant to the Scottish economy. According to the Scottish Government’s own figures, when gas and oil are excluded, exports amount to only £11.6 billion a year while sales to the rest of the world are some £15bn, and a huge £48bn to the rest of the UK. After England, our largest trading partner is the US. What is more is that sales to the rest of the UK are growing more quickly than to the EU, whose economy overall is stagnating.

The much vaunted “freedom of movement” is also pretty irrelevant to Scotland, whose economy is dominated by public- sector employment. In labour-intensive industries foreign-born workers account for about 8 per cent of the workforce, and 4 per cent of the more highly skilled workers. And the UK Government’s recent offer to EU workers and their dependents will ensure that those here will stay put.

Nicola Sturgeon’s constant harping-on about indyref2 will serve only to add to uncer- tainty and reluctance among businesses at home and abroad to invest in the Scottish economy, which is already faltering and falling behind the rest of the UK. The SNP Government should be concentrating on ensuring Scotland gets more than its fair share of the net £10bn a year which we will save on leaving the EU, and on appropriate devolved power to spend it. STUART EDMOND

Fiery Hillock Fortrose, Inverness SNP economic secretary Keith Brown says “we must be clear that the biggest threat to Scotland’s economy continues to be Brexit”. He says this in response to the latest Fraser of Allander Institute report that says Scotland’s economy continues to lag behind the UK as a whole and flatlining Scottish growth can no longer be blamed on the global oil and gas slump and, especially pointedly, “the divergence between the UK and Scots economies make it ‘hard to argue’ Brexit is the cause of the slump north of the Border”.

We are on the brink of a possible recession and our economic secretary’s head is still buried firmly in the sand.

JIM HOUSTON Winton Garden, Edinburgh