'Absurd and baseless!' Former SNP adviser 'eviscerates' economic case for Scottish independence in 'devastating' attack
SNP Yousaf speech 171023
A former adviser to the SNP government in Scotland has dismantled the economic case for independence.
Professor Mark Blyth formerly sat on the Scottish Government's advisory council for economic transformation.
He said: "You can’t really say that Brexit is the worst thing ever, and then commit the biggest Brexit of all time. Which is literally what this is."
The economics professor also hit out at Humza Yousaf's claims that an independent Scotland would be similar to Nordic countries.
The economics professor also hit out at Humza Yousaf's claims that an independent Scotland would be similar to Nordic countries
PA
Making the comparison, he said, would be like "saying I’m a supermodel because I also have legs, it’s simply not true when you really think about it".
He explained: "You’re a periphery part of a small free trade zone called the United Kingdom. You have thousands of micro-enterprises that trade with each other and trade in the United Kingdom.
“You have hardly any international trade in comparison to actual, genuine small economies, you have no global champions at scale in the way that they do in Scandinavia and other places.”
Over the weekend, he told a nationalist economics festival in Dundee that Scotland needs to ensure it has a robust economy to back up a new currency or risk becoming a “mini Argentina”.
As a "small, open economy", he warned an independent Scotland would need tto "balance your imports and exports over the long term or everyone thinks your currency’s s***".
Reacting to the remarks, Liz Smith, the Scottish Tories’ shadow finance secretary, said: "This is a devastating demolition of the economic case for independence by a former adviser to the SNP Government.
"It’s an evisceration of the absurd and baseless reassurances from nationalists that tearing Scotland out of the UK would somehow be pain-free."
Yesterday, the Scottish government published its 12th independence paper, centred around "education and lifelong learning" in an independent Scotland.
In a foreword, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “Devolution has delivered transformational improvements in the life chances of our children and young people.
“We can proudly show how decisions made in Scotland have improved the lives of our young people and independence would give us the opportunity to make all decisions in Scotland, rather than leaving far too many of them to a UK Government whose actions are holding us back.”
She added: “Despite the UK being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we know that too many lives are impacted by the scourge of poverty – impacting on outcomes for our children, and their future life chances.
“Making Scotland the best place to grow up means continuing to build on the strong action we have taken to date, including investment in the game-changing Scottish Child Payment.”
But Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, accused the Scottish government of being "obsessed with a negative campaign to divide Scotland".
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She said: "Education is fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the SNP has ruined our reputation for excellence, with Scotland plummeting down the international tables. The decline in reading, maths and science means we have fallen behind England.
"This is what happens when you have a nationalist government obsessed with a negative campaign to divide Scotland and take away opportunities for our young people, rather than a government focused on creating opportunities for the next generation in our interconnected world.
"The people of Scotland want politicians to focus on what really matters, not waste taxpayers' money on yet another piece of anti-UK propaganda."