Osborne: Brexit would cost Scots £4.5bn

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will today tell Scotland that a vote to leave the European Union would wipe £4.5bn from the economy north of the border and cost 40,000 Scottish jobs over the next two years.

Speaking less than two weeks before voters go to the polls on June 23, Mr Osborne, who will be joined by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson in the Borders, will use the visit to Scotland to reveal new analysis on the impact a ‘Brexit’ vote could have on the nation.

He will say the Treasury analysis suggests that:

He will also say visitors from Europe have a key role in supporting Scotland’s tourist sector, which employs nearly 280,000 people, while the agricultural workforce of 65,000 benefited from 648 million euros (£506m) in grants from the Common Agricultural Policy in 2014.

Mr Osborne, speaking ahead of an evening ‘Remain’ campaign rally headed by former prime minister Gordon Brown and his fellow ex-Labour leader, Neil Kinnock in Glasgow, will argue: “Every credible independent voice agrees that if the UK votes to leave the EU there would be a profound economic shock that would hurt people’s jobs, livelihoods and living standards in Scotland.

“Trade exports to the EU have created jobs in Scotland and withdrawing from the single market would have a huge impact on the economy here. It is simply not a price worth paying.

“I urge everyone to vote to Remain in the EU on 23 June.”

Responding to the Chancellor, Tom Harris of the Scottish Vote Leave campaign said: “The people of Scotland won’t take kindly to the Tory austerity chancellor coming to Scotland in a desperate attempt to scare voters into backing remain. Osborne and Cameron know the only jobs under threat from leaving the EU are their own.

“His made up statistics have been dismissed by supporters of his own side as scaremongering, and it’s about time the Chancellor stopped talking down Scotland and the UK’s economy.”

Mr Osborne’s comments come as Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon prepares to go head-to-head with Boris Johnson when she appears on a televised ITV debate with the pro-leave former London mayor on Thursday evening.

Ms Sturgeon, who is backing Remain, said ahead of the debate that she believed the futures of both Scotland and the UK would be “fairer, more secure and more prosperous as part of Europe”.

She has previously criticised the tactics of the official Remain campaign, claiming that Mr Osborne and David Cameron have been too negative and reliant on “scaremongering”.