The SNP has said the ‘greatest gift to our economy this Christmas’ would be a return to the EU single market and customs union.
It comes after official figures revealed the economy is broken, with Brexit Britain shrinking in both September and October amid mounting evidence of the economic damage of Brexit.
- A Labour Treasury minister has admitted that the UK has already paid the EU £23.8bn as part of its ‘financial settlement’ agreement and will pay a further £6.4bn
- The OBR confirmed in the UK budget that Brexit is set to “reduce the overall trade intensity of the UK economy by 15 per cent”.
- Even the cost of Christmas trees is soaring as a direct result of Brexit – with importers having warned that post-Brexit border checks will increase costs.
SNP Westminster Europe spokesperson Stephen Gethins MP said:
“5 years on since Boris Johnson won a Christmas general election in England and implemented the economic illiteracy of a hard Brexit – the Labour Party are repeating the same mistakes and implementing the same economic madness.
“If the Labour Party are serious about delivering economic growth – they need to finally wake up to the fact that the greatest gift to our economy this Christmas would be a return to the EU single market and customs union.
“Sir Keir Starmer has spent a lot of time talking about a reset with our EU partners – but the reality is that the only reset which will work is to – at the very least – rejoin the EU single market and the customs union.
“That is the only way to escape the self-imposed damage that Westminster has inflicted on our businesses and wider society – and the only way to drive proper economic growth.
“A hard Brexit was a political choice, and it was the wrong choice.
“Scotland can’t keep paying the price for Westminster’s damaging choices.
“With independent powers, Scotland can unite against Westminster’s damaging choices, protect our public services and grow our economy by re-joining the European Union.”
