Back indy vote & we can boost the economy by £4k per person
Plan would copy Denmark, NZ and Hong Kong
AN independent Scotland should copy small nations such as Denmark and New Zealand to boost economic growth, a report claims.
The paper commissioned by the SNP claims following the example of a dozen other countries could add £4100 per person to output.
A full version of the Sustainable Growth Commission’s findings will be published tomorrow as Nicola Sturgeon tries to relaunch the independence debate.
But the bold claim was made on the same day Holyrood’s finance committee heard fears that Scotland is facing an “economic shock”.
And unionist parties insisted the public are not interested in another independence poll.
Commission chairman Andrew Wilson, an ex-SNP MSP, last night said: “As a first step, there must be an acceptance that small nations can be successful and that Scotland can be one of those countries.
“Our work shows that small countries can be among the most economically successful countries in the world, with higher standards of living and lower levels of inequality than many larger economies.”
The commission’s analysis, aims to replace Alex Salmond’s 2014 blueprint for independence.
The group were set up by Sturgeon and funded by the SNP.
Ahead of publication, the commission set out 12 lessons learned.
They include a focus on exports, being open to migration, a refusal to compete as a low-tax location and the promotion of a high quality of life.
One proposal is to exploit Scotland’s resources “sustainably”, with no mention of oil ahead of the full publication.
North Sea revenue was presented as a “bonus” to Scotland’s coffers in 2014. But Wilson later admitted it had been “baked in” to the figures.
In 2014, New Zealand was not considered as a major comparison for economic performance.
The bulk of the dozen countries considered are near European neighbours but Hong Kong is included, along with Singapore.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard warned independence will not make Scotland more prosperous.
He said: “The people of Scotland will rightly be wary of fantasy numbers plucked from thin air by the SNP and promised to every man, woman and child in the country in the event of Scotland leaving the UK.” Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “This is exactly the kind of nonsense that turned people off separation the first time round.
“The SNP can pluck out any number of fanciful examples, but it won’t change the fact Scotland is far more prosperous and secure as part of the UK.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: “The whole plan involves the SNP piling up chaos upon chaos. They compound the chaos of Brexit with independence on top.”
Yesterday, MSPs heard concerns that sluggish GDP growth in Scotland could trigger new emergency borrowing powers aimed at helping the country catch up with UK growth.
Meanwhile, a leading currency expert claimed a new Scottish currency pegged to sterling could cost as much as £300billion.
Glasgow University professor Ronald MacDonald, an adviser to the International Monetary Fund, said the cost is because of the level of foreign reserves needed to underpin the currency.
He said fixing the currency to sterling is a “bad idea” because it would leave Scotland vulnerable to a market-led attack if it performed badly compared with the rest of the UK.