UKIP deputy ‘independent Scotland should leave EU’

NATIONALISTS in Scotland are seeking a “false independence” by wanting to breakaway from the UK ad not the European Union, a leading Tory member of the European Parliament has claimed.

Speaking to the Scotsman ahead of the launch of his new book “Time to Jump” today, David Campbell Bannerman, Tory MEP for the East of England and former deputy leader of UKIP, has claimed that the Scottish Government’s plan for EU membership to be the “key element” of Scotland’s foreign and security policy means they ave “given up on true independence”.

Mr Campbell Bannerman, who comes from a Scottish family and graduated from Edinburgh University, has used his book to call on the UK to vote to leave the EU in a referendum which his party plans to hold in 2017 and copy Norway’s model of economic cooperation with the EU.

He told Scotland on Sunday: “Alex Salmond is always comparing Scotland to Norway but he wants false independence for Scotland which would end up with it being dominated by Brussels.”

Mr Campbell Bannerman, who describes himself as a “strong Unionist” said Scots instead should look to voting Yes to leaving the EU.

He said: “That is the best way to repatriate our powers.”

In his book, where he likens the UK to “a giant lobster being slowly boiled alive”, Mr Campbell Bannerman says that the EU debate is dominated by myths which suggest the UK cannot breakaway including claims that it would threaten three million jobs, the EU would erect trade barriers, ad that we would still have to pay into the EU to enjoy the benefits of trade.

Instead he wants a “European Economic Area Lite” arrangement to keep free trade going but end prescriptive rules from Brussels and rulings from the European Court of Justice.