PINSTRIPE
I find it remarkable how our First Minister has the brass neck to pursue some of her lines of attack on the UK Government.
The only consistent thing appears to be the desire to make it look as though poor wee Scotland is yet again being done down by the English. It is cringeworthy and I don’t think I am the only one who is getting fed up with it.
Inconsistency is her norm. We want to stand on our own two feet - but we want the Pound Sterling and the Bank of England standing behind us. We want control of large parts of the social security system now - but whoops - our computer systems are not ready. The EU Single Market is absolutely vital and we must not leave it - the UK Single Market doesn’t matter. The EU having powers which effect Scotland is fine but the UK Government having those powers when the UK leaves the EU is an outrageous land grab by the nasty English.
Some of this is just political fluff, posturing by a person who can’t let go of the dream and concentrate on roads, hospitals and schools.
Some of it though matters a great deal to the long-term well-being of the Scottish economy. The SNP’s instincts on the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK - so clear in Nicola’s endless warbling about a land grab of powers coming back from the EU - are dead wrong.
Many of the powers which the EU has now are with it for a very good reason - they enable standards to be set on an EU wide basis which underpins the proper working of the EU Single Market. The UK is now, unfortunately, leaving the EU and the Single Market for Scotland in the future is the UK. Obviously, the UK market is smaller than the EU but it has two vital positive features. First, it is roughly four times bigger in terms of exports from Scotland than the EU is. Second, it really works. The EU Single Market was work-in-progress but the UK Single Market is one seamless market. Nobody in Birmingham thinks twice before ordering something from a Glasgow company. This ease of flow of goods and services is vital to every part of the UK but it is more important to Scotland than England. If English companies found they couldn’t effectively sell in Scotland it’s a nuisance, if Scottish companies can’t sell easily in England it’s a disaster.
The sensible position is that those powers which the EU has which are important for the proper workings of a Single Market are dealt with after Brexit at the UK wide level, this is not a betrayal of devolution, just common sense.
If powers which matter to the UK Single Market are dealt with separately in Scotland and England the inevitable will happen. Governments fiddle with the rules - they all do - it’s in their nature. The rules in England will change over time without Scotland being consulted and we will change our rules because we think we know better. Food standards and labelling rules are potential examples - the motivation behind changes would no doubt be noble but would create points of difference between Scotland and England. Slowly, cumulatively, these little changes add up until one day the person from Birmingham will prefer to buy something from Manchester rather than Glasgow.
That would be a disaster for Scotland. Our economic growth and job creation are already poor relative to England. Too much power in Holyrood’s hands is not a good thing.
Pinstripe is a senior member of Scotland's financial services community.
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