Remember when the Scottish Government was happy to cite the Centre for Economic Performance when assessing the economic impact of Brexit in 2016? Apparently the same organisation's assessment of the economic impact of independence in 2021 is less welcome. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-warns-112bn-brexit-8692651

Today the Centre for Economic Performance says the impact of independence on Scotland's trade with both the UK and the EU would shrink our economy in the long run by between 6.3% and 8.7%, hitting two to three times as hard as Brexit. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/03/independence-could-cost-scotlands-economy-11bn-a-year-forecast-suggests

If our independence debate was remotely rooted in reality this sort of analysis - and it's not the first - would hole the case for separation below the waterline. But sadly we know from Brexit that people are willing to vote against their own interests for the fiction of freedom.

It's striking that the SNP's core counterargument this morning talks about an independent Scotland in the EU. But we know that were Scotland to apply for EU membership on the first day of independence it would be many years before it could pass the tests required to join.