Bank of England Governor slams Brexit damage

by the SNP
Posted on
3 weeks ago
2 min read

The Governor of the Bank of England has urged the UK government to “rebuild relations with the EU”, saying Brexit has “weighed” on the economy.

In his Mansion House speech, Andrew Bailey warned that he “had to point out the consequences of Brexit,” highlighting the impact of trade barriers on the goods trade and smaller businesses. He also highlighted “geopolitical shocks and broader fragmentation of the global economy” as reasons to improve EU-UK relations.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that, “weak growth in imports and exports over the medium term partly reflect the continuing impact of Brexit, which we expect to reduce the overall trade intensity of the UK economy by 15 per cent in the long term.” Recent figures reveal economic growth remains sluggish at an embarrassing 0.1%.

Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer’s government firmly opposes rejoining the EU while the SNP has consistently been the only political party in the UK willing to discuss the disastrous consequences of Brexit and campaign for Scotland to return to the world’s largest trading bloc.

The prime minister had previously supported single market and customs union membership – which would have limited the chaos caused by the ramshackle, broken Brexit that the Tories and Labour eventually delivered, against the wishes of voters in Scotland.. He even once championed a second referendum on the Brexit deal, making this U-turn even more of a humiliation.

It’s clear that Sir Keir has utterly given up on his promises – and his principles.

Ignoring the brutal reality of Brexit comes at a severe cost to Scotland’s economy, businesses and households.

What’s inexplicable is that the Labour government could now do something about it but refuses to even countenance a return to the single market and customs union.

This is despite repeated warnings from experts that something must be done to reduce trade barriers and improve the relationship; especially in such a volatile global climate.

Bloomberg found that Brexit is costing the UK economy £100 billion every year, and yet the Labour Party is behaving just like the Tories: they can’t be honest with the people of Scotland, who know the fallacy of Brexit all too well, and will never put their best interests first.

Only the SNP is honest with the people of Scotland and focused on their priorities – growing the economy and building a better country. We know how important the EU is in achieving that.

As the Westminster parties continue to deny reality, Scotland must look ahead to a better, independent future in which we rejoin the European Union and regain what we have lost as part of broken Brexit Britain.