Nicola Sturgeon defends pro-independence report amid mounting 'cuts commission' backlash
4 min read
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today batted away criticism of a key SNP document making the economic case for independence, after left-wing figures warned it would pave the way for years of extra austerity.
The 354-page Growth Commission report was commissioned by the SNP in 2016 in a bid to revive the arguments for Scotland to go it alone.
Published last week, it said an independent Scotland should keep the pound for an "extended transition period" before moving to its own currency and make an "annual solidarity payment" of £5bn a year to Westminster to service part of the UK’s debt.
But Scottish Labour said the tract's recommendations would usher in a "prolonged period of austerity" and would give up Scotland's say "over interest rate policy, exchange rate policy and inflation".
The left-wing pro-independence Common Weal think tank meanwhile warned its recommendations could leave Scotland shackled to the "failed UK economic model that the report rails against".
In a string of tweets today, Ms Sturgeon mounted an impassioned defence of the report, insisting that the furious debate over its recommendations was better than "just resigning ourselves to managing the decline of Brexit UK".
The First Minister said the report "explicity rejects austerity" and stood in "marked contrast to the failed Westminster approach".
She also called the report's projections on deficit reduction "deliberately cautious", adding: "They make no assumptions about higher growth - and instead illustrate that even in worst case scenario independence is a better option that sticking with Westminster system that created the deficit."
Scots, she added, "have a choice - stay as we are, locked into the Brexit spiral and continued austerity that the Westminster parties offer no alternative to - or decide to equip ourselves with the powers to build our way to a better future.
“We should welcome debate - but without independence, these choices will always be far too limited. That’s the case we must win - and the Growth Commission helps us do it.”
'ECONOMIC HARD TIMES'
But Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard renewed his attack on the First Minister, saying Ms Sturgeon had "promised a Growth Commission" but "found herself defending a cuts commission".
He added: "The people of Scotland cannot afford another decade of austerity.
"Scotland has over a quarter of a million children living in poverty and pensioner poverty has increased by 33 per cent since 2010. We do not want another decade of austerity."
Scottish Conservative deputy Jackson Carlaw also dismissed Ms Sturgeon's "dubious" tweets, saying: “This is a visibly desperate move by the First Minister, who’s clearly been rattled by the furious reaction of hardcore independence evangelists in recent days.
“But, as is so often the case when Nicola Sturgeon takes Donald Trump’s lead on tweeting, the content is dubious.
“This report made abundantly clear that a separate Scotland is likely to bring nothing other than economic hard times.
“The authors accepted this, perhaps Scotland’s First Minister should too. After all, in establishing her commission, she created the beast which has now turned to bite her.”
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