Theresa May Scottish Speech: 25 different attacks on Scottish Independence that could just as easily be about Brexit

The Prime Minister delivered a scathing attack on the Scottish National Party and the Scottish independence movement in Glasgow this morning. But every single one of her reasons why Scotland should not leave the United Kingdom, apply equally to the UK leaving the European Union. Here are some of the best.

“The SNP Government is interested only in stoking-up endless constitutional grievance and furthering their obsession with independence, at the expense of Scottish public services like the NHS and education.”

Theresa May campaigned for Remain on the basis that it was in the UK’s economic interest. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond warned that Brexit would be ‘catastrophic’.

“The simple truth is their policies are not in the best interests of Scotland, but in the political interest of the SNP. A party resolutely focused on just one thing: independence.”

Theresa May’s government is focused on just one thing: independence.

“For them, it is not about doing the right thing. The SNP play politics as though it were a game.”

Theresa May campaigned for Remain, believing it to be in the best interests of the country. Now she will take the UK out of the European Union.

“[The people of Scotland] have an SNP Government obsessed with its own priority of independence, using the mechanisms of devolved government to further its political aims.”

Theresa May wanted to trigger Article 50 without consulting parliament. She was defeated in the High Court and again the Supreme Court.

“When I stood outside Downing Street on the day I became Prime Minister, I reminded people in that the full title of our Party is the Conservative and Unionist Party. And that word ‘unionist’ is very important to me.”

Nicola Sturgeon has said that Brexit gives a ‘cast iron mandate’ for a second independence referendum.

“The fundamental strengths of our Union, and the benefits it brings to all of its constituent parts, are clear.”

The European single market is the world’s largest free trading area. The UK is leaving it.

“We all know that the SNP will never stop twisting the truth and distorting reality in their effort to denigrate our United Kingdom and further their obsession of independence.”

The man she appointed Foreign Secretary has consistently misled the public about EU regulations on bananas, recycling teabags and allow children to blow up balloons. All of them have been proved to be false.

“As Britain leaves the European Union and we forge a new role for ourselves in the world, the strength and stability of our Union will become even more important.”

Brexit threatens to break up the United Kingdom not just in Scotland but in Northern Ireland too

“We must take this opportunity to bring our United Kingdom closer together. Because the Union which we all care about is not simply a constitutional artefact. It is a union of people, affections and loyalties.”

Theresa May still refuses to guarantee the rights of millions of European nationals to remain in the UK, where their affections and loyalties have been built up over decades.

“It is characterised by sharing together as a country the challenges which we all face, and freely pooling the resources we have to tackle them.”

Italy, Greece and Malta are dealing with hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving daily. The UK's response has been to leave the European Union

“Our United Kingdom has evolved over time and has a proud history. Together we form the world’s greatest family of nations. But the real story of our Union is not to be found in Treaties or Acts of Parliament. It is written in our collective achievements, both at home and in the world.”

The European Union was created to prevent the reappearance of widespread bloodshed in Europe. It has presided over the longest period of permanent peace in European history.

“The Union enabled the social, scientific and economic developments which powered our collective achievement.”

Brexit has already caused significant funding cuts in science research at Oxford University and others.

“Bringing people and communities closer together allowed new connections to be made.”

Theresa May will end the rights of British people to live and work in 27 other EU countries, having campaigned for the opposite.

“Together, we make up the world’s fifth-largest economy, despite accounting for less than 1 per cent of the world’s population.”

On several different indices, the plummeting pound has in fact caused the UK to drop to sixth

“Together, we fought against and defeated tyranny.”

An estimated 1.2m British people were killed in the First and Second World Wars. Since the UK’s membership of the European Union and its predecessors, around 400 British soldiers have been killed in conflicts with other European nations, in the Balkans and Cyprus.

“One of the driving forces behind the Union’s creation was the remorseless logic that greater economic strength and security come from being united. Our wholly integrated domestic market for businesses means no barriers to trade within our borders.”

Again, the UK is leaving the world’s largest free trade zone.

“But what the SNP don’t point out is that the UK domestic market is worth four times more to Scottish firms. In fact, the EU comes third after the rest of the UK, and the rest of the world as a market for Scottish goods. And yet the SNP propose Scottish independence, which would wrench Scotland out of its biggest market.”

An independent Scotland would seek a free trade agreement with the UK, just as the UK seeks one with the European Union.

“They think independence is the answer to every question in every circumstance, regardless of fact and reality. It simply does not add up and we should never stop saying so.”

Every former Prime Minister, US President, NATO Secretary General thinks Britain will be poorer as a consequence of leaving the European Union.

“Despite the scaremongering of the SNP, and their shameful attempts to use the jobs of workers as a political football, shipbuilding jobs in Scotland will be sustained thanks to UK Government orders.”

Theresa May refuses to safeguard the rights of European workers based in the UK

“And I am determined to ensure that as we leave the EU, we do so as one United Kingdom, which prospers outside the EU as one United Kingdom.”

Scotland voted to remain in the European Union. All of the economic analysis indicates that Scotland will be poorer when it leaves the European Union.

“It is in the interest of everyone in our country that we seize those opportunities and make a success of what lies ahead. Because politics is not a game and government is not a platform from which to pursue constitutional obsessions.”

The Vote Leave campaign, of which the Foreign Secretary was a key member, now freely admit that misleading figures on £350m a week being available for the NHS were ‘tactics.’

“It is about taking the serious decisions to improve people’s lives. A tunnel vision nationalism, which focuses only on independence at any cost, sells Scotland short.”

Theresa May leads a government implementing a decision she does not agree with.

“The United Kingdom we cherish is not a thing of the past, but a Union vital to our prosperity and security, today and in the future. A Union in which our national and local identities are recognised and respected, but where our common bonds are strengthened.”

Theresa May’s government will sacrifice prosperity to reduce immigrant numbers.

“Let us live up to that high ideal and let us never stop making loudly and clearly, the positive optimistic and passionate case for our precious union of nations and people.”

Brexit threatens a union of nations that has maintained peace in Europe.