Why should Scotland rejoin the EU as an independent country?

Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit.

In the 2014 referendum the ‘No’ campaign claimed that a ‘Yes’ vote would see Scotland thrown out of the EU and that only a ‘No’ vote would guarantee Scotland’s place in the EU. They also claimed that Scotland would be an equal partner in the UK.

Yet Westminster ignored Scotland’s vote to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum. So much for that ‘partnership of equals’.

Brexit has been a disaster. People are struggling with their mortgages, struggling with their rent, struggling with paying their food and energy bills, because of the consequences of Brexit. Inflation has increased and made the cost of living crisis worse. 

Scotland’s exporters – including our quality food and drink producers – are being hit with added costs; and staff shortages because EU workers have left has affected everything from bus services to the NHS.

Yet no Westminster government party is proposing to reverse this act of self-harm. The Lib Dem leader says it is ‘for the birds’ and Keir Starmer sounds more and more like a Tory Brexiteer.

The only way Scotland can return to the largest single market in the world is with independence. As an independent country we would have the power to rejoin the EU rather than be taken for granted and ignored by Westminster.

You can read more about how Scotland can rejoin the EU in this Scottish Government paper: Building a New Scotland: an independent Scotland in the EU