THE UK would be £275 billion better off if its economy had grown at the same rate as Ireland’s over the last five years.
The SNP’s Angus MacNeil, who requested the analysis from the House of Commons Library, said the figures for the Republic of Ireland emphasised the need for Scotland to have full control of its own economy.
An OECD measure was used to analyse the growth rather than a GDP equivalent, in order to strip out the effect of multinationals moving global intellectual property rights to Ireland, ensuring a fairer comparison.
Without accommodating for this, in 2015 alone, the year Apple moved its HQ to Ireland, the country’s GDP growth was a staggering 25%.
Using the OECD method, and adjusting for inflation, the underlying economic activity in Ireland is estimated to have increased by 27.4% between 2012 and 2017 – a roughly 5% annual growth rate.
The UK’s GDP rose by 11.7% in total over the same period.
If the UK economy had grown by the same amount, GDP in 2017 would have been £2235bn, rather than the £1960bn it was – a £275bn difference”.
MacNeil said: “If Ireland was still in the UK its growth would be around a quarter of what it currently is – and London would have what they call ‘identifiable figures’ to tell them how poor they would be if independent.
“The reality over the time period is very different and, incidentally, to almost prove the point, the part of Ireland that is not independent and is under London management is about the slowest growing in the UK – far slower than independent Ireland.
“The health warning is clear. Staying in the UK is bad for your economy.
“Given the underperformance of Scotland in the UK we may well have plenty of room for some rapid growth when we can set our own policies on matters as diverse as visas and taxes.
“All we need is the power to do so for jobs, businesses and general prosperity.”
The research compares two different measures of economy activity – OECD and GDP – making the estimate a rough one, the researchers cautioned.
They also pointed to Ireland’s economy going through a deep recession and a Eurozone bailout in the years prior to the period analysed, suggesting it meant more room for growth than the UK in at least part of the timeframe.
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