The SNP has claimed Tory Brexit has been an “unmitigated disaster” after a survey of UK companies found the trade deal has pushed up business costs.
A survey of 1,000 businesses by the British Chambers of Commerce found that only one in eight said the trade deal was helping them.
Issues included rising costs, not having the time and money to deal with the bureaucracy it had introduced and EU customers being put off from considering UK goods and services
Dr Philippa Whitford MP, the SNP’s Europe spokeswoman, said the effects of an “extreme Brexit” were now apparent and feeding into the cost of living crisis.
She said: “Brexit has prevented growth in the economy, cost billions of pounds, led to drastic fall in exports, and is now adding to the cost-of-living crisis."
Whitford added: “At a time when Tory cuts, regressive tax hikes, rising inflation and soaring energy bills are hammering families and businesses - Brexit is further piling on the pressure and hardship.”
She added: “The Tory government’s extreme Brexit deal has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, it’s beyond any doubt that independence is the only way to keep Scotland safe and regain the benefits of EU membership.”
Meanwhile another survey has found confidence among Scottish business has dropped to the lowest level in the UK.
On a scale between 100 and minus 100, Scotland’s confidence was found to be 16.3 for the first quarter of 2022, down from 42.2 in the previous quarter according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants
The figure stood at 27.6 across the UK.
Some 49 per cent of businesses said staff turnover was a growing challenge for them, while 48 per cent cited the availability of non-management skills.
And 38 per cent told the institute regulatory issues – potentially thrown up as a result of Covid-19 or Brexit – were a growing issue.
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