Nicola Sturgeon's SNP plans slammed by Galloway

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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that her plan for Scotland to leave the UK and join the EU has not been damaged by the bloc’s vaccine debacle and the European Commission’s threats to withhold Britain’s supplies. Earlier this month, the SNP leader said that most Scots were only worried about getting their jabs and were not concerned about the shambles on the continent, that has seen the EU threaten an export ban to countries like Britain with much higher vaccination rates. Although she acknowledged when pressed that the UK had “played a blinder” on its procurement programme, she denied that the stark contrast with the EU had made her “independence in Europe” policy less attractive.

In a recent column she claimed Scotland’s future is in the EU and explained how “Brexit took the Scots out of the bloc” against their will.

However, Professor David Blake, director of the Pensions Institute at London’s Cass Business School, has argued Ms Sturgeon’s plan is effectively giving back control to the EU.

He wrote: “The Scottish National Party wants independence from the United Kingdom.

“In addition to the extensive powers it has under the devolution settlement, it wants Scottish control of foreign, defence, and macroeconomic policy – in particular, relating to currency, interest rates, borrowing, taxation and spending.

“The reality is, of course, that the SNP does not want independence.”

Prof Blake added: “Instead it wants to leave the UK in order to join the European Union as an ‘independent’ member state, along with the other 27 ‘independent’ members states.

“The problem with that, however, is that the EU has plans to take over control of foreign, defence and macroeconomic policy from the member states, leaving Scotland with even less effective independence than it has currently as part of the UK.

“This, in part, because Scotland would have just 6 MEPs (out of 705) in Brussels compared with 59 MPs (out of 650) at Westminster.”

He concluded in his report for Briefings for Britain: “With only a little exaggeration, this is the reality of Scottish independence ‒ under EU rules.

“The SNP are deluded if they think there will be a smooth transition from being part of the UK to being part of the EU.

“And they are just as deluded if they believe there is some form of Free Trade Agreement that will allow frictionless trade between Scotland and the UK as well as frictionless trade between Scotland and the EU – as Northern Ireland has clearly demonstrated.

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“Precisely the same will happen between Scotland and the UK. There is no ‘best of both worlds’ solution as Nicola Sturgeon repeatedly suggests. Time for a very big reality check.”

In an interview with Express.co.uk, Alan Winters, director of the Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex, warned Ms Sturgeon, independence will be more costly than Brexit.

He also argued there is something “very perverse” in wanting to end a 300-year-old union in favour of the EU.

Mr Winters said: “It would be costly on both sides.

“More costly for the Scots for sure but it would also be a massive, massive political distraction.

“I also think the majority of people around the world would perceive this as English nationalism driving away the Scots, which is a rather unsympathetic view.”

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According to Mr Winters, trade patterns would not necessarily change in case of independence, but “the amount of trade would go down and incomes would go down”.

When asked if a Scottish break-away would be more expensive than Brexit, Mr Winters added: “Absolutely.

“There is something very perverse in saying ‘you dragged us out of a union which has been going on for 50 years.

“Therefore we are going to pull out a union which has been going on for 300 years.”

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