Like the majority of people in Scotland, I believe that our best future lies as members of the United Kingdom and the European Union. In a globally connected world, it makes sense to be breaking down barriers and ensuring that businesses and people have access to the opportunities that come from working across borders.
I do find it ironic that in the current debate on Scotland’s future, the Scottish National Party (SNP) are all in favour of being part of the EU, but are absolutely committed to ending the UK. When you consider that our firms and businesses sell four times as much to the rest of the UK as they do to the eurozone, you have to wonder what lies at the heart of the nationalist case for breaking up Britain. It certainly doesn’t seem to be economics.
"Staying in the UK and remaining part of the EU gives us the best of both worlds"
We have benefited enormously from being part of the UK, just as it has from being part of the EU. We don’t have to choose between the two. Staying in the UK and remaining part of the EU gives us the best of both worlds. Our continued membership of these two unions safeguards jobs and creates opportunities for our businesses and our people.
It is now abundantly clear that if we leave the UK we would be leaving the EU. Even the nationalists accept that. The president of the European commission José Manuel Barroso suggested that it would be politically ‘impossible’ for Scotland to get back in. Even allowing for our application for membership eventually being accepted, there are big questions about the conditions that would be attached to that application.
To assert, as the nationalists do, that we would be waved in by every member state and be offered deal after deal that wasn’t available to every other candidate country is utterly ridiculous. There would be tough negotiations involved. Negotiations that would be made all the tougher by the nationalists rather naïve decision to announce the date which Scotland would need to have everything concluded by. Getting a good deal with a ticking clock in the corner of the room would be tough.
On every issue, the SNP claim that we would be treated as a special case. We would not have to give a commitment to join the euro as every other country has had to do. We would not be required to sign up to the Schengen agreement as every other new member state has had to do. And we would be able to keep the UK’s budget rebate, despite no longer being part of the UK.
"Time and time again the nationalists dismiss reality and tell us that everything will be alright on the night if we leave the UK"
Time and time again the nationalists dismiss reality and tell us that everything will be alright on the night if we leave the UK. We would be given a special deal – again, not available to any other country – on cross border pension schemes. We would get enhanced deals for our farmers and fishermen. And we would somehow be able to flout EU law to discriminate against the rest of the UK by charging students from that country – and that country alone – fees to study at our world class universities.
As part of the UK, Scotland is one of the leading members of the EU. We have enormous influence and we have secured hard-won rebates and opt-outs from areas that we believe are not in our national interest. There is no reason to change that. We are stronger as part of the UK and that the UK is stronger as part of the EU. That is the best of both worlds. It is something worth preserving.