Brexit: EU membership is a positive choice for jobs

EU membership is in Scotland and the UK's best interests, says Alyn Smith.
Alyn Smith | Photo credit: European Parliament audiovisual

By Alyn Smith

Alyn Smith is a Scottish National Party MP and former MEP

16 Jun 2016

Last month, the SNP was returned to government in Scotland with 47 per cent of the vote, a popular mandate for an internationalist, pro-European party. 

We seek independence, not to withdraw from the world and shun our neighbours, but to enable us to interact with them as equals.

We believe that Scotland's natural position is as an active participant in the EU, which provides us with unparalleled access to a market of over 500 million people.


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All facts are out there in the Wee BlEU Book and on our website, www. scotlandineurope.eu. Manufacturing in Scotland, like many other sectors, relies on having full access to the EU's single market. 

Common sense dictates that we could not have the same equality of access to the single market outside the EU that we enjoy within it, which is why the positive choice for jobs, investment and prices in Scotland and the UK is to vote to Remain in Europe. 

With the current arrangements, on 23 June, the UK will decide whether we stay in, or leave, the EU. Scotland will have just an eight per cent say in that decision. The possibility that Scotland will vote to stay in, while the UK as a whole votes to leave, does exist. 

However, this wouldn't be our preferred outcome and we're campaigning for both Scotland and the UK to remain part of the EU. We know the EU membership is in Scotland and the UK's best interest.

 

Read the most recent articles written by Alyn Smith - Keeping a light on for Scotland