Households in the North Lanarkshire face a shortfall of over £157 million due to Brexit according to one Lanarkshire MP.
New figures from the Centre for European Reform (CER) figures that by the end of last year, the economy was five per cent - or £31 billion - smaller than it would have been if the UK had stayed in the EU.
Motherwell and Wishaw MP Marion Fellows said: “Again, we have even more confirmation that Brexit doesn’t work, at the expense of households and businesses here in Motherwell and Wishaw.
“Businesses in Motherwell and Wishaw have taken a hammer blow because of Brexit.
“Scotland’s economy has suffered the double whammy of leaving the EU and the Tory-made cost of living crisis. Last week we learned that Scottish exports had nose-dived by 13 per cent since Brexit.
“However, there is no way back to the EU under Westminster control with Labour signed up as a fully-fledged Brexit party. No matter the economic consequences, Labour will keep Scotland out of the European Union, a market seven times the size of the UK.
“Meanwhile countries of a similar size to us continue to outperform the UK. That is why it is only with independence that Scotland can unleash its full potential by re-joining the European Union.”
The CER has modelled the economic performance of a UK that remained in the EU - using data from countries like the US, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and Australia - whose performance was similar to ours before Brexit.
It then compared this with the real performance of the UK economy since the referendum six years ago.
The CER concludes that by the end of last year our economy was 5.2 per cent, or £31 billion, smaller than it would have been had we stayed in the EU.
Investment by businesses and government was 13.7 per cent lower; goods trade 13.6 per cent lower; although services trade was 7.9 per cent higher.
“Disentangling the economic effects of Brexit and Covid-19 is difficult," said John Springford, Deputy Director at the CER.
"But now that most advanced economies have surpassed their pre-pandemic level of output, we have a basis of comparison for the UK economy.”
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