The SNP has demanded Labour and the Tories explain “how much worse must the economy get before they break their Brexit conspiracy of silence” after a senior Bank of England official said Britain has lost £29billion in business investment because we left the EU.
The £29billion is the equivalent of £1,000 per household since the 2016 referendum.
In his report author Jonathan Haskel, a member of the Bank’s nine-strong monetary policy committee that sets UK interest rates, said private sector investment “stopped in its tracks” in the years following the decision to quit the EU.
In the aftermath of the vote, the UK immediately began to fall behind the trend of the previous six years and “suffered much more” when compared with other major industrialised economies, opening up a productivity gap that has left permanent scars.
Commenting, SNP MSP Paul McLennan said:
“Every day brings more disturbing evidence of this hard Brexit disaster – but still you will not hear a word from the Tories or Labour.
“How much worse does the economy need to get before they break their Brexit conspiracy of silence?
“The equivalent of £1000 for every household in Britain has been lost because of the Brexit act of self harm inflicted on Scotland against our will.
“That lost opportunity has a massive effect on the economy and on real lives too – and it’s getting worse by the day.
“Brexit’s toxic effects are everywhere you look – from lost jobs, staff shortages in hospitality and the health and care sectors, and billions of pounds of lost tax revenue that could have been used to boost public services like the NHS.
“The Tories can’t admit Brexit will never work because they inflicted it on us.
“And Labour won’t admit it because of a mis-placed electoral calculation which ignores the wishes and interests of the people of Scotland.
“So they are now a fully paid up member of the hard Brexit club, committed to keeping Scotland out of both the EU and the world’s biggest single market.
“Failing to accept that Brexit will never work will only accelerate Britain’s decline.
“While the Westminster parties continue to indulge in this unforgivable conspiracy of silence for purely selfish reasons, Scotland has a choice.
“We can escape the unending downward spiral inflicted on us by Westminster control and re-join the European Union as a normal independent country.”
