Why did the pound get weaker?

The UK pound has been on a downward spiral since the Brexit vote in 2016, which caused the British economy to weaken and resulted in increased costs that all of us are facing.

Brexit, which Scotland overwhelmingly rejected, has decreased the pound’s value against the dollar by around 19% since 2016.

This has made imports more expensive – meaning we pay more for the goods we buy from abroad – and contributed to higher inflation in the UK than in most comparable countries.

The UK has a negative trade balance, meaning it imports more than it exports, so the falling pound has a particularly negative effect on prices.

Meanwhile, exports from the UK have fallen – mostly due to the extra barriers, uncertainty and bureaucracy caused by Brexit, hurting many small businesses along the way.

As a result, the UK remains the only member of the G7 — the group of advanced economies that also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — with an economy smaller than it was before the pandemic.

And even the Westminster government’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) have said Brexit has had a “significant adverse impact” on UK trade with the OBR Chair – Richard Hughes – saying the UK Economy is 4% smaller because of Brexit.

Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit but Westminster imposed it on us regardless. This was despite them promising a ‘No’ vote would keep Scotland in the EU as an equal partner in the UK. 

The only way to reverse this is by independence so Scotland can join the largest single market in the world and make the economic decisions that matter to us by ourselves.