Starmer must be honest about the irreversible damage of Brexit

by Alyn Smith
Posted on
3 months ago
3 min read

Sir Keir Starmer’s flying visit to Scotland will be full of all his favourite talking points – I daresay he’ll deploy his usual attack lines and misleading statements about Scotland. He may even mention GB Energy, the company that isn’t quite a company, that may or may not be based in Scotland. But when you’re Sir Keir, who needs to be drawn on the details?

But there’s one thing he’ll avoid at all costs – and that’s the catastrophic legacy of the reckless Brexit his party now vigorously supports.

It’s time he and his party were honest about the impact of the hard Brexit he now embraces on the UK’s research and development sector on his visit to Scotland.

Upon leaving the European Union the UK automatically left the £81bn Horizon research program, barring UK scientists from world leading research projects and slashing funding for scientists and development projects.

Despite rejoining the Horizon scheme in 2023, experts warned that the delay in reaching agreement on Horizon caused a brain drain from the UK as professionals moved to the EU to take advantage of EU grants, with many scientists warning the damage done is “irreversible.”

Before leaving the EU the UK already had one of the lowest numbers of R&D researchers in Western Europe, with only 4,603 per million people in 2018 compared to 8,066, 7,563, and 5,243 for Denmark, Sweden, and Ireland respectively.

There’s no skirting around the issue from the SNP. We’re not afraid to be honest about the damage Westminster’s Brexit has wrought.

Brexit took a hammer to many of Scotland’s key industries, not least our research and development sector. The Tories were the architects of Brexit but the Labour’s Party’s bizarre position suggests that now that the damage is done we just have to live with it.

In Scotland, there is a different choice and only a vote for the SNP offers an escape from that broken, Brexit Britain and a way back into the European Union with independence.

After years of ignoring the pleas from the scientific community to rejoin the Horizon scheme, the UK government finally listened to the demands of experts and the SNP – but much of the damage done has been irreversible.

For Keir Starmer to come to Scotland and act as if nothing has happened is a disgrace when he has been complicit in propping up the Brexit status quo that continues to level severe harm and cause a brain drain for key industries.

His support for Brexit and Tory spending plans proves that the industries struggling under the weight of Brexit and Westminster’s broken priorities will get no reprieve under his incoming Labour government.

This election has turned into a coronation, with the Tories finished and Sir Keir Starmer set to swan into Downing Street. The real choice for Scotland now is whether we give Starmer a free pass for more Brexit and more cuts, or elect SNP MPs who’ll hold the Labour Party to account and stand up for Scotland’s priorities and values.

For a future made in Scotland, for Scotland, vote SNP on the 4th July.