John Ferry John Ferry

The SNP’s star economist eviscerates the case for independence

'You can’t really say that Brexit is the worst thing ever and then commit the biggest Brexit of all time'

Humza Yousaf (Credit: Getty Images)

He’s only gone and done it again. Mark Blyth, born in Dundee but now professor of international economics at the prestigious Brown University in the United States – the man who was wooed by the Scottish government to join its economic advisory council in 2021 in the obvious hope he would lend credibility (and maybe a touch of stardust) to its case for secession – has eviscerated the economic arguments for splitting from the UK.

What was meant to be a PR triumph for the SNP completely backfired

As a quick recap, not long before Blyth took up his role formally advising the Scottish government, video emerged of him criticising the economic case for a Scottish exit from the UK on the basis it would be ‘the biggest Brexit in history’.

‘It’s [the UK] been together for over 300 years, so if pulling apart 30 years of economic integration with Europe is going to hurt, 300 is going to hurt a lot,’ he said.

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