Scotland can rejoin Europe with independence - Lorna Slater

Today marks three years since we were taken out of the European Union.

Lorna Slater is the minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity

Since then we have experienced a toxic cocktail of skyrocketing prices for essential goods, extra paperwork and restrictions for small businesses and curbs on our right to work, travel and study across Europe.

It has impacted almost every aspect of our economy, and the supposed benefits we were promised have all turned into dust.

We were told that it would let us “take back control” and open ourselves to the world. Those words look so hollow today.

Right from the start, the people of Scotland recognised it for what it was – a reckless and misinformed act of self-sabotage fuelled by a campaign based on xenophobia and lies. That is why the overwhelming majority of us voted against it.

Despite this, families, households and businesses all across our country have been forced to deal with the consequences.

As long as so many major decisions are being made by cruel and unaccountable Tory governments, the damage caused by Brexit will only worsen. The more entrenched it becomes, the harder it will be to reverse.

The polls show that a clear majority of people across the UK recognise the damage that is being done and want to rejoin the EU.

However, despite the swelling opposition to Brexit, Keir Starmer has made clear a Labour government wouldn’t want to do so.

Instead he has pledged to ‘make Brexit work’. The reality is that it can never be made to work, because it was a terrible idea to begin with.

Things could get even worse thanks to the Brexit Freedoms Bill, which is working its way through the House of Commons.

It stands to remove up to 2,400 pieces of EU law which we kept on the statute books after leaving. This includes many vital protections that we all benefit from.

If passed, it could take a wrecking ball to our environmental standards and hand powers currently held by the Scottish Parliament straight to Westminster.

It is an isolationist charter that would see us even further removed from our allies in Europe.

We can work with others to build an economy and future based on solidarity and collaboration. But it won’t happen while we are being held back by a Tory government that opposes these values and a Labour opposition that will drop them as soon as they become politically inconvenient.

It is clear the only realistic route back into Europe is with the powers of a normal independent country.

Independence would allow us to take our future into our own hands. It would let us decide our own relationship with Europe and would ensure that we only get the governments and policies that we vote for.

That is why, this evening, I am speaking at Time for Scotland rally. It meets at Pollock Halls at 5pm with speeches outside the Scottish Parliament from 6pm.

Lorna Slater is the minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity