NEW analysis showing UK GDP fell by 5.5% in the second quarter of the year has fueled calls for Scottish independence.
The SNP said it was clear that self-determination for Scotland was the only way forward after a report by John Springford of the Center for European Reform (CER) concluded that between April and June, post-Brexit UK economic output was £33bn lower than if it was still part of the EU – resulting in around £12 billion in lost tax revenue.
Since 2018, Springford has modeled the economic performance of the UK remaining in the European Union – using data from countries that performed similarly to the UK before Brexit.
Stuart Howsey, the SNP’s economy spokesman, said it was yet another statistic to show that Brexit was a mistake.
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He said: “This latest analysis makes clear the harsh economic truth about Brexit that only the SNP is willing to say: Brexit is not working for Scotland or the UK.
“From the outset, the loss of unimpeded trade and freedom of movement has been a real disaster for businesses and households in every part of the country.
“However, with both the Tories and Labor ruling out a return to the world’s largest single market, more and more people in Scotland are recognizing that independence is the only way to avoid the economic damage of Brexit and Westminster.
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“Six consecutive polls show that the majority of people in Scotland now want the chance to choose their own future and that support for independence is growing. Yet despite Labor and the Tories declaring in 2014 that the Scottish people should decide how Scotland should be governed, both continue to deny the democratic mandate for another referendum.
“Yet this devastating indictment of the damage caused by Brexit reinforces why the people of Scotland must speak up and choose a different path to a more prosperous, fairer and greener country in the European Union.”
Last year, research showed that the UK’s decision to break away from spending on EU services cost more than £110 billion over a four-year period.
From 2016 to 2019, UK services exports were cumulatively £113 billion lower than they would have been if the UK had voted to remain in the EU, according to researchers at Birmingham’s Aston University.
A study by Ireland’s Institute for Economic and Social Research earlier this year also found that Brexit reduced UK exports to the EU by 16% compared to expected levels if the UK had voted to remain.
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