Why does Scotland want to Remain?

The SNP claims leaving the EU would be catastrophic for Scotland. But look at the numbers, says Matthew Lynn, and the argument doesn’t hold up.

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Brexit is unlikely to dampen this party

In the wake of the Brexit vote, Scotland's devolved government has been making a great show of limiting the economic fallout. To listen to the SNP, you'd think that leaving the EU would be even more of a catastrophe for Scotland than for the rest of the country. Jobs will be destroyed and investment will collapse. Within months, the country will be turned into a version of Venezuela. The only way to prevent that would be for Scotland to leave the UK, and remain inside the EU.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.