Fringe meeting applauds attacks on SNP’S Growth Commission

SNP members have loudly applauded attacks on the party’s Growth Commission report.

Delegates at a fringe meeting at the SNP conference in Aberdeen clapped after former MP George Kerevan when he said it would leave Scotland “at the mercy of the banks”.

Mr Kerevan said the 354-page document was “conservative” because of its plans to keep a tight lid on public spending to halve deficit, shadow UK corporation tax and keep the pound.

The report, produced by corporate lobbyist Andrew Wilson, has infuriated the left of the Yes movement, and been called a “continuation of austerity” by the respected IFS thinktank.

Mr Kerevan said: “I find the document a little bit too conservative economically for my taste. My view is let’s get independence, let’s use it. I think we need to grow the economy more vigorously post-independence and solve problems that way.

“Andrew thinks that we should we split growth between paying down the deficit and a little bit extra on public expenditure. It’s not austerity in any sense of the word.

“But it means it will take 10 years - if we have a recession globally, it could take maybe 15 years - to clear the deficit the way Andrew wants.”

His most stinging comments were for the report’s open-ended plan to keep sterling.

He said: “Andrew rules out a Scottish currency. He thereby rules out the very mechanism that the Scandinavian countries and New Zealand used in order to boost their productivity and realign their cost structures. Because what Scandinavian countries did in the Nineties and what New Zealand did over the last decade, was to devalue their currency.”

He said he was not backing any specific policies, but went on: “You can’t do what Scandinavia did, you can’t do what New Zealand did, if you don’t have your own currency. “And if we don’t have our currency we are at the mercy of the banks.

“We have to control our banking system. We have to have our own currency.

“You can’t wait 10 or 15 years to implement matters.”

The crowd of around 250 activists applauded the remarks.

Mr Kerevan said that, by being economically conservative to win over No voters, the report risked overlooking “people at the other end, the poor, the unemployed, the people stuck in dead-end jobs, the companies desperate for investment capital – if you don’t provide something for them from independence, then what is independence for?”

The remarks drew more applause at the event hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Mr Kerevan attacked the Growth Commission’s plan to peg corporation tax in an independent Scotland to the rate in the rest of the UK.

“Scotland should use its tax powers to invest in infrastructure and productivity, but that doesn’t mean you chase your corporation tax to the lowest common denominator.”

Earlier this week, Nicola Sturgeon told Holyrood magazine she expected the Growth Commission report to receive a “very positive” reception.