DOUGLAS Ross has been panned for an “absurd” comparison likening an independent Scotland to the economic crises faced by Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
The Scottish Tory leader suggested that “hundreds of thousands” of people could end up “fleeing” Scotland after a Yes vote to escape financial turmoil.
The SNP hit back at Ross after his attacks, which focused on the economic prospectus for an independent Scotland which was published by the First Minister on Monday.
The “stronger economy with independence” paper was the third in a series laying the framework for an independent Scotland. It covered controversial areas such as the border, the labour market, and currency.
The paper said that Scotland would continue to use the pound sterling after a Yes vote, transitioning to a new “Scottish pound” at an unspecified time in the future once the conditions are correct.
Ross claimed that the economic plan would leave Scotland “rudderless” as any new central bank would lack key powers such as issuing currency or adjusting interest rates.
He went on: “It's clear what that would mean. At national level, everything from macroeconomic policy to exports to inward investment, and at a personal one, everything from your mortgage rate, your pension and the price of food would have no effective safeguards.
“We've seen what can happen in countries from Zimbabwe to Venezuela. If even the UK, one of the world's five or six largest economies and a leading member of the G7, can have a serious economic reaction; the lesson from those nations is that, without the power to correct it, the outcome can be hyperinflation and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing near-total economic collapse.”
SNP MP Steven Bonnar branded Ross’s claims “pathetic”. His MSP colleague, Michelle Thomson, said the comparison was “insulting”.
Thomson, the MSP for Falkirk East, said: "It must be hard for Douglas Ross to raise his head with the amount of brass neck he is now carrying – perhaps that's why he can't see the catastrophic damage that Westminster is doing to Scotland's people and economy.
"Quite frankly, this absurd comparison is insulting and only serves to show why you can’t take a word Douglas Ross says seriously.
"It is indisputable that the huge threat to people's mortgages and pensions right now is coming from the calamitous decisions taken by a government Scotland did not vote for in Westminster – decisions that are compounding a crippling cost of living crisis, leaving households across Scotland struggling to get by.”
Liz Truss (above), who won a protracted Tory leadership battle over the summer, is facing calls to quit from within her own party after a disastrous “mini-Budget” saw the Bank of England intervene to prop up pensions funds.
There are warnings that millions of UK residents could see their mortgage payments rise by hundreds of pounds a month by the end of 2024, with the issue compounded by the lingering impacts of the Tory government’s policy announcements (which have now been almost entirely scrapped).
Thomson argued that the paper looked at how Scotland’s economy could be made to work for everyone.
She said: "The Scottish Government's paper sets out an approach that can be taken to secure fiscal stability, sustainability and a wellbeing economy that works for everyone in Scotland.
"The question Douglas Ross and the Tories have no answer to is why Scotland should be shackled to Westminster decline, damage, and woeful mismanagement when it's clear Scotland can do far better free from Westminster control."
