Brexit’s “damaging” impact on Scotland will “only get worse” if Nigel Farage gets into Downing Street, the SNP has claimed.
The party spoke out as new research by the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) showed GDP in the UK has lagged behind that of European Union nations.
While EU countries enjoyed cumulative economic growth of 7.3% since 2019, growth in the UK has been lower, at 5.5%
GDP growth in the EU was found to have been been roughly a third (32.7%) higher than the UK since 2019.
SNP MSP Calum Kerr said the findings showed “just how damaging Brexit has been”.
He spoke out on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the UK’s referendum on EU membership – which saw Scotland vote to stay in the trading bloc, while the UK overall voted to leave.
Mr Kerr, the MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, said: “A decade on, these latest figures lay bare just how damaging Brexit has been with Britain now constantly languishing behind our EU neighbours.
“Scottish voters have been proven right – Broken, Brexit Britain is stuck in decline with our economy in a permanent doom loop while the cost of living spirals out of control.”
Mr Kerr said the UK’s vote to quit Europe came after politicians in the leave campaign, including now Reform UK leader Mr Farage and former prime minister Boris Johnson, claimed that “Britain would be £350 million a week better off out of the EU”.
While he added that “Scots didn’t buy it then” – with 62% of voters north of the border in the 2016 referendum wanting to remain – Mr Kerr said the country was “dragged out of the EU anyway”.
Branding Mr Farage the “main architect behind Brexit”, the SNP MSP said the “constant chaos” in the Labour Party meant it “seems only a matter of time” until Reform win power at Westminster.
Opinion polls show Reform is the most popular of the UK parties, and Mr Kerr said: “Make no mistake about it, things will only get worse in a Farage Britain as he isolates us even further from our European neighbours.”
The SNP MSP added: “It is only with the fresh start of independence that Scotland can escape this frightening Farage future and build a wealthier country back where we belong in the heart of Europe.”