Work with me Nicola, for Scotland
Ross reveals blueprint for ‘powering up’ country and bringing it together
Deputy Scottish Political Editor
COMMUNITIES would have the right to buy failing pubs and shops in their local areas under plans announced by Douglas Ross yesterday.
The Scottish Conservative leader accused Nicola Sturgeon of ‘letting down’ businesses and the economy – and urged her to consider implementing some of his ideas.
He unveiled a series of initiatives, including a ‘job security council’ to help workers who have been made redundant amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The innovative move is based on a scheme in Sweden which has helped up to 90 per cent of staff who have lost their jobs find work.
Mr Ross has also pushed for a number of targeted spending plans, such as a town centre rescue initiative and a new community right-tobuy scheme which would allow residents to buy businesses facing financial ruin.
The proposals are contained in his first major policy document, Power Up Scotland, published yesterday only weeks after he became Scottish Tory leader.
It also includes calls for a hardship fund for businesses facing local lockdown and a ‘Scotland First’ approach to procurement to help local companies bid for Government contracts.
Mr Ross urged the First Minister to invest in infrastructure to help ‘bring Scotland together’ and boost jobs – such as creating a third lane on the M8.
Speaking in Inverness yesterday, the Scottish Tory leader said: ‘As we have come through the health crisis of this pandemic we now face the economic crisis.
‘I don’t think enough has been done by the SNP during the pandemic, and for many months and years beforehand, to get
Scotland’s economy in a good place to respond to that, which is why I have put forward this series of proposals in my first policy paper today.’
His plan proposes a fully integrated public transport system, with a payment method similar to London’s Oyster card, as well as faster rail links between cities.
Mr Ross denied his plans would have to be paid for by tax hikes or service cuts. Instead, he said ‘efficiencies’ could be found in the Scottish budget.
He added: ‘It’s about ensuring the money that the Scottish Government spends is spent wisely.
‘You could reel off a series of examples – you know, hospitals that are built that can’t accept patients. We are paying millions of pounds for them to lie empty.
‘Whether it is failed IT systems that cost millions, then are not delivered, there are a number of areas that the public can look to and see that the SNP Government have not delivered on what they promised, at great cost.
‘There have been resources wasted and I want to see them targeted in a better way.’
The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the procurement plan, and the Scottish Retail
Consortium said the ‘detailed paper’ must be considered.
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: ‘This is typical of the Tories, who are more interested in soundbites than coherent policy proposals.’ He said Miss Sturgeon’s Programme for Government ‘will deliver progressive policies focused on dealing with the economic, health, and social crisis caused by coronavirus’.