In this week's Community Column, Brendan O'Hara, the SNP's General Election candidate in Argyll and Bute, says there's no kind of Brexit that will be of benefit to people in his constituency.
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When asked in 2016 if we wanted to remain in the European Union, the people of Argyll and Bute said an unequivocal yes.
In the Parliamentary and European elections that followed, the opinion of this constituency never wavered. It’s clear that most people in Argyll and Bute value being citizens of the European Union and do not want to lose the freedoms and opportunities that citizenship brings.
We want to be able to move freely from the most northerly island of Shetland to the most southerly outpost of Greece, to work, to live, or to study.
And even if we don’t want it for ourselves, we certainly want it for our children and for our grandchildren.
Generally, the people of this constituency recognise that even with its faults, being part of the European Union has been good for us and there is no form of Brexit that will benefit the people of Argyll and Bute economically, socially or culturally.
And whether it’s a catastrophic No Deal or the deal offered by Boris Johnson – the one which puts our shellfish producers and farmers at an enormous disadvantage to their competitors in Northern Ireland – Argyll and Bute will lose out.
READ MORE: Ex-MP Alan Reid to fight Argyll and Bute for the Liberal Democrats at next election
That is why, whilst I have served as your Member of Parliament, I have done everything I can to prevent us being dragged out of Europe by a right-wing, isolationist, Conservative government, seemingly hell-bent on reducing environmental protections, workers’ rights and food safety standards. And who would, I suspect, open up our National Health Service to large American corporations in order to secure a trade deal with the Trump administration.
This is not what Argyll and Bute or Scotland voted for, but it is I fear the direction of travel within the United Kingdom and in all likelihood the next UK government will deliver Brexit.
Now is the time for the people of Scotland to decide our future and whether we want to be part of that isolationist UK or become an independent, progressive, democratic, European nation.
READ MORE: Catch up on all the latest news headlines from around Helensburgh and Lomond here
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