More than 60 prominent figures in Scotland’s civil society have signed an open letter demanding a halt to Brexit as it becomes clearer, they say, that it is seriously damaging to society, the economy and the country’s standing in the world:
“We come from a broad range of sectors across our society – business, education, law, politics, public services, unions, NGOs and more.
We see our society, economy and politics becoming ever more undermined due to the impact of Brexit. We recognise that a narrow majority voted to leave the European Union, but the disastrous consequences are now becoming ever clearer – every day. Even before the UK has left the EU, we face falling living standards, rising inflation, slowing growth and lower productivity.
Our international reputation has been seriously damaged, leaving the UK weak, with diminished influence, in an increasingly uncertain and unstable world. EU citizens who have made a huge social and economic contribution to our society have been left in profound uncertainty – many have already left, many more are considering leaving. UK citizens elsewhere in the EU are in an unacceptable limbo too.
In a democracy, it is always possible to think again and to choose a different direction. We need to think again about Brexit, to have a UK-wide debate about calling a halt to the process and changing our minds. The UK has been a major and influential actor in Europe and can be again. We need to have a debate about how to build a better, fairer, more equal society. Then we will be in a position to contribute to an EU-wide debate on creating a fairer, more equal Europe.
We call for a national debate on Brexit. We ask our fellow citizens, and our politicians, to think again. It is time to call a halt to Brexit.”
Readers wishing to sign a related petition can do so here
Full list of signatories here
Alastair McIntyre says
This is just ridiculous as we’re leaving the EU, the single market and the ECJ and that’s it. Instead of harping on about how we can still stay in the EU we need to put our minds on how to make Brexit a success.
Business people are simply lazy. 15% of our exports go to the EU and that has been at the same level for some 15 years now. We have increased exports to England but I doubt anyone actually seems these as exports.
Business people need to get of their backsides and go out a talk to Commonwealth countries and the USA and China. The Scottish Government need to encourage this instead of complaining all the time. We all know most politicians are pretty thick so we can likely just forget about them to be any help to Scotland.
So we’re likely left with Scottish Enterprise to do something although again they have been pretty poor at promoting exports in the past. This means it is really up to our lazy business people to do something themselves. I would recommend they visit the Commonwealth web site where they’ll get lots of information on the countries in the Commonwealth and the business opportunities that are out there.
See http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/sip/commonwealth.htm to learn more about the Commonwealth and the business opportunities. (Note that this site is not mobile friendly).