Independence is the only route to escape the damage of Brexit and Westminster control, the SNP has said, after Rishi Sunak admitted that labour shortages facing the UK are playing a part in the cost of living crisis hammering households.
When challenged over why the UK was estimated to suffer higher inflation rates compared to EU neighbours, the former Chancellor stated that one of the contributing factors “that we have here that most European countries don’t have is tightness in our labour market.”
He added that “the thing that probably is the biggest challenge is finding workers and it has been for a while, and that labour inflation is something that we are experiencing that the rest of Europe is not.”
Commenting, the SNP’s Europe spokesperson Dr Philippa Whitford MP said:
“This is a damning political admission – one of the candidates to be the next PM has openly admitted that the Tories’ ruinous Brexit obsession is directly to blame for the cost of living crisis that is hammering households and causing pain to millions.
“Rishi Sunak’s admission about the impact of labour shortages on the UK’s eye-watering level of inflation is just the latest in a long list of examples of the damage Brexit is wreaking upon Scotland and the UK.
“With both the Tories and Labour committed to Brexit, there is no route to a fair economic recovery under continued Westminster control and only independence would allow Scotland to re-join the EU and reverse the damage of Brexit.
“With the Tory government continuing to dither and delay instead of using its powers to act to help people, it is clearer by the day that Westminster is utterly failing and that only independence will give energy-rich Scotland the powers we need to tackle this crisis and to create a fairer, more prosperous society.”
