A DAMNING report on the UK economy warns Scotland will continue to suffer no matter who wins the Tory tussle to be the next prime minister.
The research reveals that Tory economics have resulted in more than a decade of stagnation for the UK due to a “toxic” combination of slow growth and income inequality higher than in any other large European country. There is also gloomy news for Scotland’s fishing industry in the report produced by the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance and the Resolution Foundation.
It states that the UK’s fishing output could shrink by 30% by 2030 as a result of Brexit, with high-productivity sectors like chemicals and electronics also predicted to contract as a result of exiting the EU.
In addition, the research shows wealth taxes have flatlined as a share of GDP, half of shift-workers are given less than a week’s notice of their working hours or schedules, while low-income households in the UK are 22% poorer than their counterparts in France and 21% poorer than in Germany.
In Germany, typical household incomes are 16% higher than in the UK, and in France, they are 9% higher.
A total of eight million young workers have never worked in an economy with sustained average wage rises, while those born in the early 1980s are almost half as likely to own a home at age 30 as those born in the early 1950s.
Large families and disabled people are falling behind, with almost one-third (31%) of households with a disabled adult being in poverty in 2019-20, compared to 19% of families in which no one has a disability.
Pre-pandemic, almost half of families with three or more children were in poverty, up from one-third in 2012.
The researchers warn that the low growth of the past 15 years and the high inequality of the past four decades pose risks not only to the economy, but to society and democracy too.
SNP MSP Paul McLennan said the report confirmed the UK’s direction of travel had been clear for years and would continue “in the same downwards direction regardless of which hard-right ideologue gets the No 10 keys next”.
“Regardless of whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak becomes the next Prime Minister, one thing is guaranteed – Scotland will continue to suffer under Westminster control,” he said.
“The two contenders were both senior and prominent members of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, which inflicted the most chaotic Government in living memory on the people of this country.
“Both were enthusiastic supporters of the decade of Tory austerity and both are Brexit zealots, despite the tidal wave of evidence that this Tory obsession is making us all poorer and significantly adding to the cost of living crisis.
“Neither of them has said anything in their leadership pitch to suggest they will bring any form of financial relief to hard-pressed families across Scotland. In fact, things are most likely to get substantially worse under their control.”
McLennan added: “The UK’s economy has consistently underperformed in comparison with other European neighbours of a similar size to Scotland. And as this report confirms, this direction of travel has been clear for years now and will continue in the same downwards direction regardless of which hard-right ideologue gets the No 10 keys next.
“The only way Scotland can forge a happier, fairer and wealthier future is as an independent country, free from the shackles of Westminster control.”
