Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP will tomorrow make a speech in Edinburgh about the constitution.
Speaking, as head of the party’s Conservative Friends of the Union campaign, she will make the positive case for Scotland remaining part of the UK.
Ruth is expected to say:
“Just think about the benefits to Scottish business of being part of that single UK market.
“We export twice as much to England as we do to any other part of the world - £45.5 billion annually – and over the last decade the value to Scotland of trade with the rest of the UK has increased by more than 60%.
“If we were to leave the United Kingdom it would inevitably mean one set of rules and regulations in Scotland and another set just across the border in the remainder of the UK.
“Different financial regulations; different employment laws; different insurance requirements; different tax authorities; different accreditations and qualifications with which small companies would be obliged to contend…
“All barriers to trade, obstructions to economic growth and impediments to the job creation in Scotland we all want to see.
“Let’s take a very specific example; Scotland’s financial services industry which supports more than 160,000 jobs.
“More than £9.9 billion of the business Scotland does with the rest of the United Kingdom is made up of financial and insurance activities.
“That’s twice the export value of any other individual sector of our economy.
“Being part of a single UK market with common financial regulations means Scottish firms can sell their products like mortgages and pensions anywhere in the UK.
“And here are some facts which might surprise you.
“Last year, Scottish firms sold 38,965 mortgage policies within Scotland. But they sold 204,645 mortgages to households across the rest of the UK.
“In other words, 84% of mortgages sold by Scottish firms were to people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“In the same year, Scottish firms sold 19,075 pension products to Scottish households. But over the same period they sold 186,627 across the rest of the UK.
“I think that puts matters firmly in perspective.
"A sixth of a million Scottish jobs, nearly £10 billion of financial service exports; and most of that built on doing business within the single UK market.
"The facts are clear; Scotland is more successful and more prosperous by working in partnership with the rest of the three nations in the UK."
"A sixth of a million Scottish jobs, nearly £10 billion of financial service exports; and most of that built on doing business within the single UK market.
"The facts are clear; Scotland is more successful and more prosperous by working in partnership with the rest of the three nations in the UK."
