SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: The party’s Westminster leader said Farage is the reason why Scots are struggling financially
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage while on the European Election campaign trail(Image: PA)
The SNP has blamed Nigel Farage for the country’s cost of living crisis. and demanded he apologise to voters.
The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has launched a scathing attack on the Reform UK leader ahead of his planned visit to Scotland tomorrow.
Flynn, alongside the party’s Hamilton by-election candidate Katy Loudon told the Sunday Mail the prominent Brexiteer was the “cause” of the current economic problems facing ordinary people.
He said: ” Farage is the cause of the cost of living crisis, not the solution.
“He should have apologised to the people of Scotland long ago for the damage inflicted by Brexit – and he should take the opportunity to apologise when he makes his daytrip to Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse tomorrow.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn speaking in the House of Commons during the debate
Farage, a long-time Brexit supporter, was an integral part of the campaign to leave the EU and infamously claimed that an alleged £350m the UK spent every week on EU membership would be freed up for the NHS.
Hours after the Brexit vote in 2016 the Reform UK leader backtracked on the claim, which had been repeatedly criticised as inaccurate by the UK Statistics Authority.
Since Brexit, prominent economists have cited it as a reason for soaring bills and rising food costs in the UK including former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney.
Carney, who is now the Canadian Prime Minister, said Brexit had “slowed the pace at which the economy can grow”.
Analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) published in January found that Brexit had “permanently diminished trade efficiency in the UK by introducing customs checks, rules of origin requirements, and regulatory divergence from the EU.”
It said: “These barriers increase costs for both exporters and importers.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan said last year that Brexit had already cost the UK economy £140bn, citing analysis he had commissioned.
Farage will visit Aberdeen tomorrow as well as Hamilton to join Reform’s candidate for the upcoming by-election.
Loudon, who is hoping to become the SNP MSP for the area, said: “Nigel Farage has done more than most to harm Scotland’s economy and send costs soaring for Scottish households.
“People across this constituency know the damage he has caused because they feel it everyday in higher prices, but the once architect of Brexit is now portraying himself as the answer to the challenges facing people across Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
“ Farage’s rhetoric isn’t what improves lives, delivery does; and that’s what the SNP is doing in government.”
Reform UK was contacted for comment.
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