Meeting of the Parliament 14 June 2017
Thank you very much—I will do that.
Our best interests are served by remaining in the EU. However, close observers might have noticed that the Liberal Democrats did not win the election, either. We are constructive and reasonable people who will work with others on a new plan that gets all the benefits of a close relationship with our European partners, even if that relationship is not what I would ultimately want. That is reasonable and pragmatic.
It is not reasonable and pragmatic to use Brexit for the sole purpose of winning independence. Brexit is the latest excuse from the SNP in its relentless independence campaign. It is absurd that the SNP seeks to use Europe to get an independence referendum that cannot guarantee European Union membership in return. We could end up not just being outside the UK but being outside Europe. We would certainly be isolated then.
The voters are not buying it. If the election failed to endorse Theresa May’s plan for Brexit, it certainly failed to endorse Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for independence. The loss of big political creatures such as the SNP’s former leader Alex Salmond and its former Westminster leader Angus Robertson requires an appropriate response. To carry on regardless would be failing to understand what just happened. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one leader may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.
Something strange is going on in Scottish politics and in the SNP. Once upon a time, Alex Neil was a fundamentalist who demanded independence without delay and Nicola Sturgeon was the gradualist. The roles are now reversed, and Nicola Sturgeon has gone from arch-gradualist to neo-fundamentalist in just two years.
Nicola Sturgeon’s carelessness is not just harming the SNP; it is harming the economy, too. Official figures show that Scotland is on the brink of a recession. Ernst & Young reports that the Scottish economy is
“stuck in the slow lane”.
The EY Scottish ITEM club has predicted “below par” GDP growth of 0.9 per cent in 2017, which is half that expected for the UK.
Our economy is set to lag behind that of the UK, with consumer and company confidence falling. The employment level in Scotland is forecast to fall this year. It is expected to drop by 0.1 per cent in 2017, followed by further decreases of 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent in the following two years. Consumer spending is to rise by just 1 per cent in 2017 and by less than 1 per cent from 2018 through to 2020. That compares with an average annual rate of 2.3 per cent over the past five years.
Scotland today is set to be behind. Brexit affects us all, but independence plans and the Government’s failure to perform and deliver are hitting us, too. The SNP Government should abandon its plans for independence and focus on what it was elected to do.
Liberal Democrats have big plans to invest in our people, through education and mental health services. We have plans for a close relationship with Europe to boost trade and jobs. We have plans that will open up and advance our country—not close it off and hold it back.
I move amendment S5M-06045.2, to leave out from “welcomes the fact” to end and insert:
“however, recognises that official figures show Scotland on the brink of a recession while Ernst and Young reports that the Scottish economy is ‘stuck in the slow lane’; believes that repeated warnings about the fragility of the economy and business confidence have been dismissed; recognises and acknowledges the challenges facing Scotland’s economy, including the threat of another divisive independence referendum, a hard Brexit and skills shortages, and believes that a long-term plan to build a strong economy must include the removal of the threat of a referendum on Scottish independence and avoiding a hard Brexit, combined with transformative additional investment in education and a step-change in mental health to help people achieve their potential and enable businesses to find the skills they need.”
15:26Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.