Brexit costing Scotland £3 billion a year, SNP minister warns on anniversary of referendum

Brexit is costing Scotland a staggering £3 billion each year in lost public revenues, a senior SNP minister has warned.

Angus Robertson spelled out the continuing economic damage caused by the decision to leave the EU on what is the seventh anniversary of the fateful referendum.

An overwhelming majority of voters in Scotland backed remaining in Europe at the vote on June 23, 2016.

Robertson, the Constitution Secretary, said Brexit had limited economic growth, restricted trade, increased food costs and diminished opportunities for young people.

A Scottish Government report out today found that 44 per cent of businesses blamed leaving the EU as the main cause of their difficulty in trading overseas.

It pointed to the example of shellfish exporters who now face additional estimated costs of up to £600 per consignment due to trade barriers.

It also pointed to staff shortages being reported by 45 per cent of tourism businesses in the Highland and islands, as a result of the loss of freedom of movement.

Scots also face more costly and difficult travel arrangements with long transit delays at ports and airports.

© Ken Jack/Getty Images Angus Robertson led the debate on independence on Tuesday

It comes as the Record continues its Broken Brexit series which has examined the impact of leaving the EU on different parts of the Scottish economy.

Robertson said: “Seven years after people in Scotland resoundingly rejected Brexit, the Scottish Government has published a paper that lays clear the damage it has inflicted.

“Brexit means Scotland has now left the world’s biggest single market and no longer enjoys freedom of movement, resulting in labour shortages across the NHS, agriculture, and our hospitality sector.

“Consumers and businesses continue to face a cost of living crisis driven by rampant food inflation, while produce rots in the ground, and obstructive trade barriers that are making it harder to import and export goods from the EU.

“Scotland’s rural and research sectors have lost out on hundreds of millions of pounds worth of EU funding, which the UK Government has been unable to match.

“A generation of young Scots have been deprived of life-changing exchange opportunities to study abroad.

“While we will continue to do all we can to mitigate this damage through our long-standing ties with European neighbours, the fact remains that the only way to meaningfully reverse this damage and restore the benefits Scotland previously enjoyed, is for an independent Scotland to re-join the European Union.”

Scottish Labour said it was “committed to fixing the mess left by the Tories’ hard Brexit”.

MSP Neil Bibby said: “The SNP keep desperately trying to drag us into the arguments of the past because they have no answers to the challenges we face right now.

“After seven years of Brexit upheaval, people and businesses in Scotland want stability, not more years of uncertainty.

“Labour is committed to fixing the mess left by the Tories’ hard Brexit and that starts with rebuilding shattered relationships with our international friends and neighbours.

“Labour has a bold plan for positive change and to grow the economy, for example with the creation of Great British Energy. Our ambition is for Scotland and the UK to be the global leader in the green jobs of the future and by basing GBE in Scotland, we’ll see tens of thousands of job opportunities created for working people across the country.”

A spokesman for the UK Government insisted Brexit had delivered significant advantages such as regaining control of the country’s borders and ending the influence of European courts.

They added: “We are taking full advantage of the many benefits of Brexit. With the first trade deals to be negotiated post-Brexit now in effect and more to come, businesses up and down the country will now be able to reap the rewards of our status as an independent trading nation and seize new opportunities, driving economic growth, innovation and higher wages.

“We have taken back control of our borders, restored domestic control over our law-making and axed numerous pieces of bureaucratic red tape, saving businesses and consumers money across the country.”

It comes as a poll shows more than 50 per cent of people in the UK believe that leaving the EU was a mistake.

The findings, published by the Tony Blair Institute and carried out by Deltapoll, also suggest that 18 per cent of Leave voters now believe that the decision was wrong.

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