A NEW paper detailing the scale of the damage Brexit has inflicted upon Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government.
Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson said the UK leaving the EU has limited economic growth, restricted trade, increased food costs and diminished opportunities for young people.
The paper marks seven years since the UK voted to leave the bloc and follows a separate Government report on how the UK Government has shown disregard for devolution since Brexit.
It highlights official statistics and facts including:
- An expected loss of £3 billion every year in public revenues for Scotland
- Food price inflation at a 45-year high with Brexit responsible for an estimated one third of it
- Damaged trade with 44% of businesses in Scotland naming Brexit as the main cause of difficulties trading overseas
- Additional estimated costs of up to £600 per consignment for some shellfish exporters as a result of trade barriers
- Staff shortages reported by 4% of tourism businesses in the Highland and Islands as a result of the loss of freedom of movement
- More costly and difficult travel arrangements with long transit delays, more obstacles for touring artists and roaming charges reintroduced by most operators
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.”
