Labour’s backing for a job-destroying Brexit deal is unforgivable

by Mhairi Black
Posted on
7 years ago
2 min read

At last we are allowed to know how bad the UK government think Brexit is actually going to be.

We have been through – literally – months of rumours and cover-ups and misinformation about what analysis the Tories have or have not done about how damaging their plan to leave the EU will turn out.

 

No wonder they wanted to keep it secret. No wonder they did everything they could to keep it from the public, because last week the dam burst. It all came out and the figures were horrific.

 

Even then we only know because the findings were leaked – after the Tories’ cloak and dagger plans for MPs and MSPs to see them in secret fell apart.

 

 

How absurd are the UK Government? People need to know what is coming their way – huge falls in growth and wealth in every single region and nation of the UK.

 

In Scotland – if the Tories carry on the way they are – our economy will be a full nine per cent smaller than if we had stayed in the EU.

 

Scotland voted to stay in the EU by a very large margin but unfortunately the UK Government are determined to drag us out of the single market and customs union, causing massive damage.

 

Scotland is not the worst hit either – the economies of the north-east of England and the West Midlands will contract by an unbelievable 16 per cent and 13 per cent.

 

Step forward the opposition parties at Westminster to unite and fight this avoidable mess by joining with the SNP to stop an extreme Brexit.

 

We know that is a possibility because it is a parliament of minorities and there is no majority for an extreme and damaging Brexit.

 

Only one problem – and that is the Labour Party. They are – to put it mildly – all over the shop.

 

 

 

Their position on Brexit is a shambles. They are aiding and abetting right-wing Tory plans for an extreme Brexit which will do huge damage to the Scottish economy, jobs and living standards.

 

That is unforgiveable, and will be seen as such by many Labour supporters, who are now turning their back on the party in despair.

 

There is now a complete vacuum at the heart of Labour policy on the biggest single issue facing the country.

 

So we now have a Government and an official opposition who say they will take the UK out of the single market and the customs union.

 

That is a huge mistake.

 

SNP MPs and MSPs will always fight for Scotland and stand up for our nation’s best interests.

 

Right now, that means not letting the extreme Brexiteers in the Labour and Tory parties get away with their reckless Brexit nightmare.

Mhairi Black is SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South. This article originally appeared in the Daily Record