Independence Is Scotland’s Only Route to Rejoining the EU
After years of sustained political pressure from the SNP, Rishi Sunak finally confirmed today that the UK will rejoin Horizon, the EU’s flagship scientific research scheme.
The SNP has led the campaign to rejoin the EU Horizon programme, with Carol Monaghan MP stating that the delay demonstrates why Scotland must rejoin the European Union through independence.
The EU Horizon scheme provides £85 billion of funding to universities and businesses with the aim to promote scientific breakthroughs that will tackle the climate crisis and treat cancer, as well as restore the degradation of nature on land and at sea among other things.
Commenting, the SNP’s Science, Innovation, Technology and Education spokesperson, Carol Monaghan MP said:
“After years of pressure from the SNP, the scientific community and businesses, the government at Westminster has finally admitted that there was only one sensible outcome. The Prime Minister should now have the decency to explain why on earth it has taken this long.
“Academics will be breathing a sigh of relief today, but it is ludicrous to see the UK Government now extolling the virtues of re-entering a programme that Scotland wouldn’t have left had we not been dragged out of the EU against our will.
“Scotland did not vote for Brexit – yet our universities and businesses have had to suffer years without access to the flagship scheme. This is on top of the wider damage caused by the Tory and Labour party’s destructive Brexit agendas, which put ideology and populist politics before investment, job security and economic success.
“Rather than picking up the pieces of a disastrous Brexit, Scotland should be able to build upon our thriving science and technology sectors alongside our neighbours in Europe, by re-joining the European Union as an independent country.”
Scotland in Europe 