Sir Tom’s ‘radical’ plea to fire up economy

RADICAL new policies must be implemented to kick-start Scotland’s economy after lagging behind the UK for decades, according to one of Scotland’s leading businessmen.

Sir Tom Hunter has backed a significant shift in policy-making to support business growth and rebuild Scotland’s economy following the coronavirus pandemic.

This includes increases in government borrowing, spending to stimulate growth, tax cuts and deregulation to improve competition and a ‘large increase’ in support for businesses. The ‘Raising Scotland’s Economic Growth Rate’ report by the Oxford Economics consultancy is published today.

It was commissioned by The Hunter Foundation to ‘initiate a national debate’ on the economy and looks at issues such as low productivity, poor start-up rates, and problems with ‘scale ups’.

The report highlights that Scotland’s gross domestic product lags behind that of countries such as Ireland and Norway.

And it states it is ‘not realistic to think’ the economic policies of the UK or Scottish governments will produce a transformation of Scotland’s economic performance.

The report considers options for growing the economy such as infrastructure spending, education and the green economy.

It notes that high taxation is not true of Scotland today and adds: ‘The bigger issue is that the tax system is not designed to encourage work, saving or investment. Fundamental rather than piecemeal reform is needed to the tax system.’

Sir Tom said: ‘Scotland would need to make changes equivalent in their impact to creating a business comparable in size with Google’s total global output to bring its GDP per head to the level of Norway’s.’

Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: ‘The SNP agrees we need radical and ambitious policies to secure a strong and green economic recovery for Scotland.’