30 March 2019

The head of an influential pro-independence think-tank has slammed the SNP’s Growth Commission ahead of the party’s crunch conference debate on the plans.

Robin McAlpine, director of Common Weal, said the party’s plans on currency “will certainly mean permanent downwards pressure on public spending and almost certainly austerity.”

Mr McAlpine slammed the proposals of a no-deal currency plan, with an independent Scotland using the pound without an agreed currency union, as leaving the country “largely reliant on Westminster and the London finance markets," and “that it has never been used by any advanced, exporting economy in modern history.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said:

“This is a brutal but honest assessment of the SNP’s plans to impose accelerated austerity on communities across Scotland.

“The so-called Growth Commission outlines a further decade of austerity, with tax cuts and more power for big business, and fewer rights for workers. This is the exact opposite of what Scotland needs.

“What Scotland needs are Labour governments in Holyrood and Westminster that will end low pay and the exploitation of workers, reverse the rise in poverty and homelessness, and put people before profit through public ownership of our public services.

“Under Labour, the wealthiest will pay more to fund our NHS, schools and local services.

"And we will invest in our people, our communities and industries, and shift the balance of power so our economy and society work in the interests of the many, not the few.”



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