Sturgeon’s independence dream to cause ‘cascading’ brain drain

Douglas Ross clashes with Nicola Sturgeon over IndyRef2

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Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for Scottish independence will cause a brain drain from Scotland’s economy, a foreign policy expert has warned. Foreign policy expert Professor Azeem Ibrahim warned that Nicola Sturgeon would have to impose “aggressive tax hikes” in order to fulfil her plans to rejoin the European Union as an independent Scotland. He explained that the country would be forced to reduce its deficit from 12 percent to three percent in order to be accepted into the Euro, which he claimed would involve “hugely drastic” cuts and “aggressive tax hikes”.

This, Professor Ibrahim said, would have a “rolling effect” on the economy as it would cause “major taxpayers” to leave the country.

He told Express.co.uk: “That would shrink the tax pool considerably, it would have a cascading effect.”

Speaking about Ms Sturgeon’s plans for independence, which were outlined in a white paper published last month, Professor Ibrahim said: “None of this stuff is viable at all and none of it is practicable.

“None of it is sellable either, so that’s why they try to obfuscate and avoid developing a proper economic plan.

“They eventually just try to muddy the waters by saying, ‘We’ll just use the pound until we develop our own currency.

He said that an independent Scotland would struggle to be accepted back into the EU, as they would be required to join the Euro.

This, Professor Ibrahim said, would not be well received by the Scottish public. He explained: “While people in Scotland may be in favour of joining the EU, they are not in favour of joining the Euro.

“The last poll indicated that just 10 percent of people support joining the Euro.

“And this has led to a real conundrum for the SNP and is why they are obfuscating and avoiding developing a real economic plan because they cannot marry the two situations.”

Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Constitution and External Affairs, Donald Cameron, told Express.co.uk that Ms Sturgeon’s “dream of EU membership” is “discredited”, warning that the SNP cannot “have their cake and eat it” when it comes to the European Union.

He said: “No matter how much the SNP want to talk up an independent Scotland joining the EU, their case for doing so doesn’t stack up.

“Multiple officials from Brussels have made it crystal clear that Scotland would have to commit to adopting the Euro as its currency if it wanted EU membership.

“The EU’s stance on this is simple – the nationalists can’t have their cake and eat it on membership.

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“Even beyond the issue of currency, Scotland would still need the unanimous approval of every other member state – another considerable obstacle the SNP are choosing to ignore.

“It is clear that Nicola Sturgeon’s dream of EU membership is as discredited as her entire economic prospectus for independence. She and her government need to put their independence obsession to one side and focus on delivering on the real issues for people in Scotland.”

Earlier this week, the Scottish First Minister was criticised by a leading economist and the Scottish Conservative Party for her economic plan for independence.

Scottish economist Tony Mackay said it was “extremely doubtful” that there would be enough oil and gas in the North Sea to finance the SNP’s plans.

This came after Ms Sturgeon unveiled the SNP’s latest independence paper, which outlined economic and currency plans for a Scotland outside of the Union.

The paper included a proposal on re-joining the EU for access to the Single Market, making it clear that reversing Brexit is key to the SNP’s independence vision.

Speaking about the paper, the Scottish First Minister said that the UK Government “cannot be trusted to act in Scotland’s interests”.

She said “independence is now essential” in order to “prevent further economic damage being inflicted by Westminster Governments”.

Ms Sturgeon claimed that Brexit has made the UK even more “ill-equipped to cope with events like the cost of living crisis”.

Ahead of the speech, the First Minister said Scotland had an “abundance of skilled people, innovative businesses, and natural resources”.

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