Brexit is leaving the average worker significantly worse off after leading experts said the UK’s withdrawal from the EU is costing millions of people £1,300 a year in lost income.
The findings from the OBR and Centre for European Reform come after the IMF forecast that only Italy is set to have worse economic growth than Britain next year, with UK output projected to fall 0.3 per cent this year.
Now, the SNP’s Europe and EU Accession spokesperson, Alyn Smith MP, said Labour and the Tories must answer why Scottish workers are being forced to pay a heavy price for Brexit.
Commenting, Alyn Smith MP said:
“Independence in Europe will put rocket boosters on our recovery from Covid, while the reality of life in the UK is that Scottish workers are £1,300 worse off due to a Labour enabled Tory Brexit that Scotland voted overwhelmingly against.
“Labour and the Tories must both answer as to why Scottish workers are being forced to pay such a heavy price.
“Under the Tories’ leadership, the UK’s lacklustre economic performance and stagnating growth is adversely affecting everyone’s income at a time where household finances are already stretched because of the Tory cost of living crisis.
“We’re seeing clearly that Westminster has nothing to offer the people of Scotland, especially when EU member states are enjoying much higher levels of growth and better economic performance.
“A stale economy at the detriment of ordinary people will become the norm if we remain attached to the broken Westminster system, with both Labour and the Tories committed to this failed Brexit project which continues to hammer working Scots.
“Scotland’s workers and our economy need a clean break from pro-Brexit Westminster.
“With independence we can begin to reverse the damage caused by the shambles of Brexit and a Tory cost of living crisis by re-joining the EU and setting Scotland on a path towards economic prosperity – building a wellbeing economy that works for the workers, not the other way round.”
