Tory Brexit Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg MP has told the Sunday Express the Tory Government will be replicating Margaret Thatcher’s approach to the economy with economic ‘reforms’ that will make the UK – including Scotland – unable to rejoin the European Union (EU).
Mr Rees-Mogg said:
“It is very much really what Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s but in a different context.”
“It will be impossible to go back because our economy will be so transformed that firstly nobody would want to and secondly the EU would look at us in horror because we would not be following all their petty rules.”
In addition, Boris Johnson’s new Chief of Staff, Stephen Bacrlay, said the Tory Government would cut the size of the state to reduce its support for individuals and communities whilst diminishing government responsibility.
Labour Leader Keir Starmer MP meanwhile has said in a BBC Radio Newcastle interview :
"We have exited the EU and we're not going back... there's no case for rejoining."
Kenneth Gibson MSP commented:
“There are communities across Scotland and the UK that have never fully recovered from the policies of Mrs Thatcher.
“It is extremely disconcerting that, at the tailend of a global pandemic, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, and with the stifling economic impact of Brexit trickling through, this Tory Government intends to revert to this ideology. Inevitably, it will exacerbate job losses and social costs to many – like it did last time.
“We know that EU leaders have indicated that an independent Scotland would be welcomed back into the EU. However, once Jacob Rees-Mogg has finished with us, that may change. The only way to prevent this is through independence.
“The Tories have diminished our access to the EU for Scotland once, we cannot let them do it twice.”
ENDS
