Scotland’s progress ‘stagnant’ – report

Economic productivity in Scotland has been “broadly stagnant” for the last 15 years, with the country underperforming against many other European nations, a new report has concluded.

The David Hume Institute said there had been “no progress” towards a target set by ministers in 2007 to improve Scotland’s productivity rankings to take it into the top-performing 25% of nations in the OECD.

The think tank warned there were “no quick policy fixes to Scotland’s productivity challenge” – saying nations which had successfully boosted this had done so after a “concerted effort to get their act together”.

The Wealth of the Nation report, produced with support from the Scottish Policy Foundation, said Scotland was being outperformed by at least half of the OECD.

It also said while the UK as a whole was “at the centre of a so-called ‘productivity puzzle”’ which had seen growth slump to “virtually zero”, the slowdown had started earlier in Scotland.

Although Scottish Government capital spending has been above the UK average, the report added it still “lagged considerably behind other developed countries”.

Institute director JaneFrances Kelly said there needed to be a “turnaround”.

She said: “We are not the first country to face this challenge but, as our research shows, politicians and policy makers need to get their act together and make choices guided by evidence. Failing to do this will put the Scottish economy at risk.

“Our research has looked at London, Manchester, Sweden, Australia and Ireland - and in every case we found that a ruthless focus on evidence, building consensus across the political divide and creating strong institutions were crucial to turn things around.”

Politicians and policy makers need to get their act together and make choices guided by evidence