European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has offered Canada the opportunity to become the European Union’s first associate member as the two sides seek a closer economic and political relationship.

The proposal was made during von der Leyen’s State of the Union address on Wednesday 16 September, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the European Parliament to hear the announcement.

Details of what associate membership would involve have yet to be set out, making this an offer to develop a new relationship rather than Canada becoming an EU member.

The development has been seized upon by the SNP as evidence of countries seeking closer relationships with the European Union while the UK remains outside the bloc following Brexit.

The party argues that an independent Scotland could seek EU membership and has again linked that case to estimates of the economic damage caused by Brexit.

Recent analysis attributed to Stanford University economics professor Nick Bloom estimated that leaving the EU has reduced UK GDP by as much as 8%, equivalent to around £3,000 per adult.

Those figures describe an estimate of the economic cost of Brexit and do not establish that independence and EU membership would automatically make every person in Scotland £3,000 better off.

The SNP has nevertheless used the analysis to argue that restoring Scotland’s place within the EU could recover economic opportunities it says have been lost since Brexit.

SNP Foreign Affairs spokesperson Brendan O’Hara MP said:

“The news that Canada is set to become the European Union’s first associate member is the latest example of the sheer madness of Brexit, while major countries are queuing up to do deals with the EU, Brexit Britain sinks deeper into isolation and is making people poorer.

“For Scotland there is a way out of this Westminster imposed doom loop, we can choose to take control over our own future, we can get back into the EU with independence.

“Leaving the EU has damaged growth and investment, costing the public finances £250 million every day and it’s costing every single person £3000 every year, so much of the cost-of-living crisis that is hurting people across Scotland today can be traced back to the decision to drag us out of the EU against our will.

“And despite this mountain of economic evidence, Westminster parties and politicians are either too blind or too cowardly to admit what the vast majority of ordinary people saw years ago, Brexit is a disaster.

“If Andy Burnham won’t rip up Keir Starmer’s reckless red lines, then he is every bit as wedded to the stupidity of Brexit as every single Prime Minister before him.

“By backing Brexit at all costs, the Labour Party are making the choice to make people poorer.

“Only by taking our place as an independent nation in the EU can Scotland turn the page on our chapter in broken Brexit Britain.

“Scotland needs a fresh start with independence.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has retained Labour’s existing Brexit red lines, with the UK Government ruling out returning to the EU, single market, customs union or freedom of movement, while saying it wants a closer relationship with European partners.