In what ways is Westminster holding Scotland back?
The Scottish Government’s Building a New Scotland paper shows that the UK is already performing poorly relative to a group of neighbouring European comparator counties across a range of economic and social indicators.
The UK has higher levels of poverty and inequality, and lower levels of growth and productivity than comparable countries.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the UK will be the only G7 country with negative economic growth in 2023. More recently, a report by the Resolution Foundation and London School of Economics showed UK workers are missing out on over £10,000 a year, with UK living standards falling behind other G7 nations, as well as Australia and the Netherlands.
Scotland’s economy is one of the best performing in the UK as it outperforms the UK and even Europe in terms of investment – however the UK economy is now lagging behind many EU and international countries .
There is a broad consensus that Brexit will lead to a further deterioration in the UK’s relative economic performance.
Improving the Scottish economy will become even harder if Scotland stays tied to the under-performing Westminster system. A system Keir Starmer will not change as he signs up to support Tory Brexit along with a range of other Tory policies.
The Westminster economic model is demonstrably failing and increasingly holding Scotland back.
Independence is now essential to build an economy that works for everyone in Scotland just as independence works for our neighbours in north west Europe – particularly those smaller or similar in size to Scotland.