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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
James Walker

SNP minister questions why major Scottish exports go through Heathrow Airport

AN SNP minister has questioned why major Scottish exports go through Heathrow Airport.

External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson said Scotland should “actually have the ambition to be successful” during an appearance on BBC Debate Night on Wednesday night.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave a major speech outlining her economic ambitions, including an announcement that the UK Government would back a third runway at Heathrow.

The Chancellor announced that Labour would approve the controversial and long-debated development at Europe's busiest airport – which she insisted would boost exports of Scottish salmon and whisky.

She pointed to research that showed that building a third runway at Heathrow would boost “potential” GDP growth by 0.4% by 2050, according to Frontier Economics.

Reeves added: “Over half, 60% of that boost, would go to areas outside of London and the south east, increasing trade opportunities for products like Scotch whisky and Scottish salmon, already two of the biggest British exports out of Heathrow.”

But Robertson (above) questioned why this is the case in the first place.

“I'll look at the merits of the case of Heathrow and there's also talk about Luton and other London airports, but the point's been made,” he said.

“Why on earth are we exporting major Scottish products, whether that's salmon or whisky or anything else, via Heathrow?

The SNP minister added: "Why is the UK Labour Government, when talking about growth in national infrastructure, delivering it elsewhere and not here [in Scotland]?

“I could talk about Grangemouth. I could talk about carbon capture that was supposed to happen in the north east of Scotland. I could talk about a supercomputer, an £800 million project, one of the first things that Labour cancelled when they came into government.”

He went on: “None of these things help growth. And I wish success to London, to the southeast of England, to the Oxford-Cambridge corridor. And if they are economically successful, then no doubt we'll get some trickle down benefit.

But we have to aspire to something better than that, surely. So let's end the self harm of Brexit. Let's get back in the single market, the customs union. Let's rejoin the European Union. Let's stop taxing jobs.

“And let's actually have the ambition to be successful like every single one of our independent northern European neighbours, all of which are wealthier than Scotland.” 

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