The SNP has renewed calls for a fresh start for Scotland with independence in Europe after new figures highlighted a widening gap between earnings and savings growth across the European Union and the UK, with the data applying to Scotland and published by the House of Commons Library in London.
The figures, commissioned by the SNP, show real terms earnings across the EU are forecast to rise by an average of 1.2 percent in 2026, compared with a 0.5 percent annual increase predicted for the UK over the medium term by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The research also points to a sharp divergence in household savings, with the OBR forecasting UK savings rates to fall to just 2.25 percent by 2030 while the average across the EU is expected to reach 15 percent in the coming years.
Individual European countries are projected to perform even more strongly, with savings rates forecast at 18.1 percent in France, 18.3 percent in the Netherlands and 19.2 percent in Germany in 2026.
The findings follow the most recent OBR outlook delivered at the Chancellor’s Budget, which reduced forecast growth in household disposable income from 3 percent to 0.25 percent a year.
The same forecast suggests that average weekly earnings in the UK, once adjusted for inflation, will still be lower by the end of this decade than they were in 2008 at the start of the financial crisis.
Dave Doogan said the figures underlined the impact of long term UK economic policy on Scotland.
“These stark figures again expose the price paid by ordinary Scots for a broken Westminster system, with lower earnings, less savings and a never ending cost of living crisis.
“This new year, Scotland can choose a different direction and build a better future by choosing a fresh start with independence in Europe.
“The impoverishment that Brexit Britain has inflicted on Scottish households and businesses is laid bare in these statistics and is now locked in.
“In the UK from now on every budget and every year will repeat the same pattern of painful policies that have hit people in the pocket for over 15 years.
“That was the legacy of the Conservatives, but now the official figures confirm the United Kingdom is heading for another lost decade of decline.
“A generation of Scottish people have lived through Brexit Britain, a place that is poorer, weaker and less relevant.
“Instead of accepting that future, Scotland can take its destiny into its own hands, end the damage of Brexit and re join the European Union.
“That is the opportunity the SNP believes independence offers to Scotland and its communities.”
