Sturgeon’s ‘obsession with a border would cost thousands of jobs’
MORE than 700 jobs would be put at risk for every new role created if border posts were set up between England and an independent Scotland, the Tories have claimed.
Emma Harper, an SNP MSP, said that a hard border between Berwick-uponTweed and Gretna would deliver a jobs boost for her south of Scotland region, where she is standing for re-election on Thursday.
However, the claim has been met with widespread ridicule and dogged Nicola Sturgeon, who has struggled to explain how routes to England could be kept open if she succeeds in having Scotland leave the UK to rejoin the EU.
An analysis by the Scottish Conservatives, based on figures from the Border Force, National Records of Scotland and the Fraser of Allander institute, suggested that around 740 staff would be needed for a SNP border force in a new Scottish state.
However, it said that around 545,000 jobs would be put at risk if a border was created – the number of jobs that are supported in Scotland by trade with the rest of the UK.
“The SNP’s lack of any meaningful information in the event of breaking up Britain would be laughable were it not so serious,” Oliver Mundell, the Tory MSP, said.
“Some of the biggest unanswered questions are around their proposed border between Scotland and England.
“This senior SNP politician claims that a border would create jobs when it would do the very opposite – and on a monumental scale.”
He added ‘‘For every job created by Nicola Sturgeon’s border force, hundreds more would be put at risk due to the disruption to trade and business uncertainty. This is the terrifying reality of the SNP’s destructive obsession.”
Ms Sturgeon is hoping to claim a new mandate for an independence referendum at the Holyrood elections, and hopes to hold a new vote by 2023.
She wants Scotland to leave the UK
‘SNP’s lack of meaningful information (over) breaking up Britain would be laughable if not so serious’
and join the EU as an independent country, claiming the EU single market is far larger than the UK’s.
However, official figures show Scottish businesses do more than three times more trade with the rest of the UK than they do with the continent.
An SNP spokesman said: “While the Tories return to playing Project Fear, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are setting out plans to lead Scotland through the pandemic and into recovery.
“We will take no lessons from the Tories who put a border down the Irish Sea, between Scotland and the European Single Market, a move that has cost businesses thousands and is already hitting people’s jobs.