IN

by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money

Advisory Board, Scotland Stronger IN Europe

I have surprised myself at how passionate I feel about the referendum debate and the compelling case for Scotland and the UK to remain part of the European Union.

I studied the history of Europe at university and relish the fact that I have lived in the peace of post-war Europe throughout my life, when our predecessors suffered conflict roughly every twenty years.

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And peace has brought with it a focus on social justice that was never a priority in harsher times.

Enhanced by Europe, health and safety legislation has saved countless lives in our country.

It brings with it bureaucracy - but surely that is a price worth paying to save a father, sister, brother, friend?

The working time directive - which came from Europe - added complexity to HR departments throughout the land. But it put people in control of their lives and put a stop to the exploitation of previous decades.

Maternity leave - which gives mothers time at home with their babies in a way that US families cannot even dream of - was inspired by Europe.

All of these achievements - and more - are based on our economic strength and, in turn, that has been driven by being part of a single market which is bigger than the United States - a market with over 500 million people.

Over three million jobs in the UK are linked with our trade to other European countries, including hundreds of thousands in Scotland.

Scottish exports to the EU - with no barriers or tariffs - are worth nearly £12 billion a year.

We should not throw away the rights that our common European membership gives us.

In UK, banking customers enjoy low rates on credit cards and mortgages because money markets make it possible for banks to access cheap funding based on the relative strength of our economy and stability of Sterling.

Being in the European Union, with open access to the single market, is fundamental to this strength and stability.

All of this has resulted in a stronger economy and much of it has been achieved through a stable society and a seat at the table of the single market.

Those who suggest that we should leave the single market put at risk the hard won benefits that businesses big and small enjoy as part of Europe.

Even if smaller Scottish or UK-wide businesses do not export themselves, they are often suppliers to larger companies which do just that. They are part of a critical supply chain which relies on a single market.

Larger markets, increased competition and easier trade across all Europe boost profitability for firms small and large, and improve prices for customers everywhere.

Make no mistake: it is inconceivable that we could have the same equality of access to the single market if we leave the EU.

Europe is also good for jobs and social protection in the workplace.

It really is no wonder over two-third of Scottish businesses say they want to stay in Europe, and the STUC and many individual unions back staying in.

Our future and that of our children is in our hands. I think we must unite together in the interests of social justice and economic success.

Striking out into the unknown and turning our backs on our neighbours would mean a profound change in our economic and strategic relations with the rest of the world.

We are a generation which has enjoyed peace and prosperity beyond the wildest dreams of our forefathers. And it falls to us to decide if we will provide the same benefits to the generations to come.

In our difficult and dangerous world, the European Union - whatever its faults - has provided safety, social justice and economic prosperity for our businesses, our families and our country.

I hope that voters will weigh the evidence, listen to the arguments, and think long and hard about how best to secure greater prosperity and our place in the world.

OUT

By Graham Simpson, Conservative MSP for Central Scotland

Economic spokesperson for Scottish Vote Leave

The warnings of impending apocalypse from the Remain camp grow more shrill and extreme the closer we get to polling day in the EU referendum – and it can’t be doing them any good.

But peering through the hysteria, the sheer horror at the very idea that it might be possible to exist and prosper outside the EU, there is a central argument used against a Leave vote: if we’re not in the EU, we’ll have to negotiate our own trade deals.

That’s not a warning – that’s our opportunity.

Surprisingly few people even realise that the right to trade independently with countries beyond the EU was a right we surrendered when we joined the (then) EEC in 1973. The UK, a trading nation for as long as it has existed, has no seat on the World Trade Organisation. Instead it’s the EU that represents us, along with the other 27 nations of the EU.

This gives the EU clout in international negotiations, say its defenders. Perhaps. But it also makes negotiation much more complicated and drawn out.

The infamous American-EU trade deal, TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) was first proposed in 1990. Negotiations are ongoing and hope is fading they will ever reach a successful conclusion.

A vital trade deal between the EU and India, one of the world’s most important and fastest growing markets, has been the subject of negotiations for nine years and still there are no signatures on an agreement.

The size of the EU may lend it clout but it also makes it immensely difficult to reach agreement, not just with whichever nation it’s trying to reach agreement with, but within the EU itself. Twenty-eight different countries will each have its own specific interests, some of which will conflict with other EU nations. That is only right and it is inevitable.

Meanwhile, America took two years to finalise a trade agreement with Australia, a much smaller market than the UK, and Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are free, as non-EU members to negotiate successful and lucrative free trade agreements with whoever they like.

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A vote to Leave the EU would have some immediate and long-term benefits to Scotland’s economy.

Although only one in 20 firms actually export to the EU single market, every single company must adhere to whichever EU regulation applies to their particular sector.

Such red tape is costly and it is unnecessary. Virtually every country in the world (apart from Somalia and North Korea) exports to the single market, but only companies doing the exporting have to respect EU regulations.

Removing unnecessary red tape would free up resources that should be used to grow businesses and create jobs, not tick boxes on a Brussels bureaucrat’s clipboard.

It is simply inconceivable that the UK, with its history of co-operation and trade with the EU, would somehow be stopped from trading with the EU were we to leave.

For a start, the EU is itself obliged legally, via the Lisbon Treaty, to pursue “good neighbourliness” with its non-EU neighbours.

More importantly, we would become, on the day we left, the EU’s largest export market on which many thousands of jobs throughout the EU would depend.

We would need no favours from our former EU partners: the simple rules of markets would make it in everybody’s interests to continue trading with us.

Significantly, the EU is becoming a less important destination for our exports. It’s true that 44 per cent of UK exports were to the EU in 2014 - but that represents a ten per cent decline in the previous ten years, and few economists predict a reversal in that trend.

Partly that’s because of the Eurozone’s poor performance. But it’s also because other overseas markets – particularly China – have become more important. And even without a trade deal with China, we’re still selling more goods there – proof that while trade deals are important, they don’t need to exist for trade to happen.

Only 15 per cent of Scotland’s exports find their way to the EU, while non-EU exports represent 21 per cent of the total (the remaining 64 per cent of Scotland’s exports are to the rest of the UK).

Given the decline in importance of the EU as an export destination, perhaps the question we should be asking is not, should we leave or remain, but rather, would we join today if we weren’t already a member?

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The answer is almost certainly no.

We are the world’s fifth biggest economy and its fourth biggest military power. With a permanent seat on the Security Council of the UN, as a founding member of Nato, a leading member of the G7 and G20, the UK will always be a country the world wants to deal with.

I strongly believe the right choice for Scotland and the UK to flourish is to vote Remain on June 23.