Dear Jeremy,
In recent weeks there has been a clear signal from the business community and Members across the House that the best way forward in Phase two negotiations for the UK exiting the EU would be to protect our current membership of the single market and customs union.
I hope you will join me at 17:00 on Monday 8th January 2018, the first day after the Christmas recess, to discuss how we can work together in Parliament to secure the UK’s continued membership of the single market.
As Fraser of Allander analysis has revealed, leaving the single market would risk up to 80,000 jobs and £2,000 per person in Scotland every year. We know from Bank of England analysis that 75,000 jobs in the City are at risk with a hard Brexit. Across the UK, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be at stake alongside people’s incomes, livelihoods and living standards.
The General Secretary of the TUC has also spoken out on the need for the UK to stay in the single market for guarantees that workers’ rights will be protected.
And it’s not just the economy we need to protect. Communities along the land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland need certainty for their own livelihoods that a UK staying in the single market would provide.
The SNP have been clear – work with us to keep the UK in the single market and stop a catastrophic Tory Brexit which threatens jobs, the economy and the Good Friday Agreement.
I look forward to hearing from you and meeting for this single market summit in Parliament on Monday 8th January 2018.
Ian Blackford
SNP Westminster Leader