Scottish independence: Scotland ‘needs UK to set up trade missions’

SCOTLAND’S only Conservative MP last night sparked a furious row when he said that Scottish ministers were unable to organise top-level foreign trade missions without the help of the UK government.

Days before the SNP finance secretary John Swinney set off on a trip to the Far East, the Scotland Office minister David Mundell suggested that the political clout of the UK government was required to open doors to ensure that Scottish trade delegations have exposure to the most powerful foreign movers and shakers.

Arguing that if Scotland was independent, it would lose advantages when it comes to drumming up trade, Mundell said that Scottish ministers benefited from the network of UK embassies across the world.

Mundell said that being part of Britain meant that Scottish ministers had access to their foreign counterparts that would be denied them if Scotland were independent.

“It is not possible for the Scottish Government to orchestrate a visit without the help of the UK government,” Mundell said.

“David Cameron has just been in Japan. The idea that John Swinney would make a greater impact than David Cameron is preposterous.

“Last year, when Alex Salmond was in China, he got access to levels of the Chinese government that were only possible because the British government facilitated it.

“It just isn’t realistic to think that Scotland could do better if it was on its own. It is a really good deal for Scotland. You are getting to promote Scotland, but on the back of the global links that the British government has and the British government’s ability to open doors for Scotland.”

Mundell was speaking from the United States, where he was visiting Chicago, Philadelphia and New York for the Scotland Week celebrations.

The Scotland Office minister claimed that US businesspeople were “bamboozled” by the SNP’s drive for independence, which was creating uncertainty among US businesses and potential investors.

Salmond’s spokesman said it was “extremely ill-advised and ill-informed” for Mundell to attack a Scottish Government trade mission.

The First Minister’s spokesman continued: “This narrow, partisan attack on a Scottish Government initiative to boost jobs in Scotland – at a time when Mr Mundell’s government at Westminster is damaging jobs and recovery – will backfire very badly on him. It shows just how out of touch Scotland’s only Tory MP is.”

The spokesman added: “People in Scotland are reminded that the only remaining role of the Scotland Office is to talk Scotland down.”