The Scottish economy would suffer a severe shock if the UK has a “hard Brexit”, losing up to 80,000 jobs and seeing wages fall by £2,000 a head per year, an economics thinktank has warned. Those moves would appear to preclude membership of the single market, which requires freedom of movement and standardised rules for business. Some industries with greater reliance on EU trade, such as transport and services, would be hit hardest. Under a hard Brexit scenario, 25,000 jobs would be lost from wholesale and retail, transport and warehousing sectors alone. When Theresa May hinted at a hard Brexit earlier this week, sterling crashed to a 31-year low.

Source: The Guardian October 05, 2016 22:52 UTC