The Advertiser has invited the General Election candidates standing to represent Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber to share their views on key topics to the area.

In our latest contribution, SNP candidate Brendan O'Hara writes about the economy.

There is a simple ABC as to why so many people are struggling financially right now: (A) austerity; (B) Brexit; and (C) the cost-of-living crisis.

What they all have in common is that they are rooted in a failed Westminster system, and a Tory government which for the past 14 years has presided over economic decline.

Austerity has slashed the money needed to fund our vital public services, such as the NHS.

The cost-of living crisis, was turbo-charged by the calamitous Liz Truss premiership, causing mortgages to soar, energy bills to rocket, and led to eye-watering food-price inflation, putting household budgets under unprecedented pressure.

But the biggest factor in the UK’s economic decline is Brexit.

Strangely, none of the Westminster parties wish to talk about Brexit. They seem to be locked in a conspiracy of silence when it comes to the economic carnage that it has caused.

Of course, Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit. Brexit was imposed on us by Westminster, and it’s time we demanded the return of the EU membership which has been stripped from us.

In this constituency we all know that Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster, for farming, aquaculture and tourism. 

The SNP is making Brexit an election issue because Scotland’s economic wellbeing depends on returning to the European Union, and it’s only the SNP who are offering that return.