National Investment Bank is a better bet

Sir, – Mrs Maike Cook (Far better use for £2 billion of banking cash, Courier, February

25) slates the Scottish Government for its plan to set up the Scottish National Investment Bank, with initial capital funding as above.

The idea of the new bank is to provide support to fledgling companies, particularly in the field of innovation and green enterprise, at a point in their development when a little bit of funding can make all the difference, a section of business where the UK has not distinguished itself in the recent past.

The Courier’s Business Matters supplement on February 25 covered this very topic of spin outs from universities and colleges, or start-up companies, which had great ideas and huge potential, but access to development funding may be not so easy.

For Mrs Cook’s information, the Bill to create the new bank had cross party support in the Scottish Parliament, including the Conservatives, with similar banking initiatives fairly common in many of our neighbouring European countries, most of which have better records on innovative business start-up success than the UK.

The other side of the funding equation is the UK Government, which ploughs huge amounts of money, of which we in Scotland have to pay our share, into projects which are of no use to Scotland, maybe no use to anybody, with no say in the matter whatsoever.

For example, HS2 is planned to cost £106 billion, almost certainly at least double, if it ever goes ahead, to save an hour on a journey within southern England.

Crossrail has cost £18bn and counting to save a few minutes on a journey across London.

Renewal of the Palace of Westminster, soon to be redundant as Ireland unifies and Scotland leaves, has a ball park budget of £4bn, a teaser figure to get approval, after which the cost will multiply.

We now hear, not from our government, but from the US, that we are to be spending countless billions, for a generation, if we survive that long, on nuclear weapons which will be much more of a danger to the people of Scotland, than to whatever enemies they are designed to deter.

I would suggest to Mrs Cook that it will be of much more benefit to the people of Scotland to spend £2 billion of our money on developing innovative Scottish businesses, from which we would hope to see a healthy return, rather than, as our prime minister would say, “spaffing” it away on the dubious projects I list above.

Les Mackay. 5 Carmichael Gardens, Dundee.