So we have just marked the third anniversary of the UK leaving the European Union. An occasion that Brexiteers once hailed as the chance to renew the UK’s status as a global superpower, free from the shackles of the European Union. We were to unleash our economic potential in ways that simply wasn’t possible as a member of the world’s largest trading bloc. We would be able to control migration so that there would be jobs aplenty for our citizens. And we would be able to restore our democracy after abolishing pesky EU law.
But three years on, it seems that the penny is finally starting to drop for even the staunchest of Eurospectics that those promises were, in fact, nothing more than fallacies.
On the economy, a report just this week from the IMF forecasted the UK to be the only advanced economy, including sanction-hit Russia, to fall into recession this year. What I have continuously heard from constituents – from farmers, to small business owners, to manufacturers – is that the Brexit red tape has been an unmitigated catastrophe for their businesses. Void of any benefits, it has led to higher import and export costs, less demand and huge losses of profit.
On immigration, sectors are on their knees due to labour shortages, as EU nationals shun the UK in pursuit of work within the bloc. All the while illegal immigration has continued to skyrocket despite the newfound Brexit powers which were purported to bring an end to it. And on democracy, it is hard to overstate the damage caused by the conveyor belt of scandals that has come out of Westminster since the days of Boris Johnson.
But the scandals didn’t stop with him. After the fleeting calamity of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak has already been forced to sack his party chairman after he was fined several millions of pounds by HMRC for tax evasion. Not to mention the ongoing investigation into the Deputy Prime Minister for multiple allegations of bullying.
Meanwhile, we have bills going through parliament just now, like the Retained EU Law bill and Public Order bill, which aim to strip workers’ rights and the right to protest. A far cry from what was promised in 2016.
In Scotland, Brexit frustrations are, of course, heightened by the fact that we overwhelmingly rejected this doomed project, but had it forced upon us anyway. Scottish identity is deeply integrated with Europe and there is a palpable sense that our future belongs there. Polls have consistently shown a majority support for independence, and this support will continue to grow the longer Westminster continues to disregard our democratic wishes in pursuit of its imperialist fantasies.
With the SNP now preparing to formulate our next steps towards a second referendum at the special party conference in March, the state of today’s Brexit Britain serves as a harsh reminder as to why independence is the only way to secure our country’s future.