Six key points on growing the economy laid out in FM’S speech
JOHN Swinney set out the broad principles of his plan to boost the economy as he delivered his first major speech on the key policy.
Speaking to an audience of business and trade union leaders, as well as academics and journalists, at the Barclays Campus in Glasgow, the First Minister said boosting economic growth and eradicating child poverty go “hand in hand”.
Here are six key points he made during his address and in questions afterwards.
Moderate centre left
Mr Swinney again insisted his government will stand in the “moderate centre left”. Essentially this means he does not want growth for its own sake or to make some people who are well off even more wealthy, but to raise more funds to deliver high-quality public services, such as health and education. Crucially, he also sees his mission as helping businesses generate revenue in order to alleviate what he described as the “curse of child poverty”.
“I was asked by one journalist what would be the key policy objective I would want to achieve as First Minister,” he said. “I said I wanted to do all that I could to eradicate child poverty. I believe it to be a curse in a 21st-century, advanced Western society that children are brought up in an environment of poverty.”
Attracting inward investment
Mr Swinney highlighted that Scotland has a “formidable” record in attracting investment, saying that outside London and the south-east it was the most successful part of the UK in “attracting foreign direct investment”.
He said his government was “pursuing huge opportunities” in growth industries such as the renewable energy and the tech sector.
“Offshore wind is at the heart of both energy and economic policy in Scotland,” he stated.
Supporting home-grown businesses in the tech sector
As well as appealing to overseas firms to locate to Scotland, Mr Swinney underlined that he wanted his government to support new local businesses and help them sell their goods and services in international markets.
“We will continue our focus on supporting home-grown entrepreneurs and innovators,” he said.
“We are backing the rise of a new generation of Scottish firms that will generate new wealth by exporting their products and services across the world.”
Focus on traditional Scottish businesses
As well as provide a spur to encourage new enterprises, the First Minister also highlighted the place for more traditional businesses, naming the screen sector, food and drink, financial services and tourism.
“As a country we are at the forefront of small satellite manufacturing, our screen sector is going from strength to strength and we have huge strengths in more traditional areas like food and drink and financial services, as we can see from this formidable investment by Barclays in Glasgow, and in the tourism sector.
“So, Scotland is open for business and open for investment. And my government will do everything we can to ensure that is the case in the future.”
Brexit, independence and European free movement
Mr Swinney said he found “the prevailing economic climate in the United Kingdom profoundly worrying” as he discussed the UK’S decision to leave the EU. He pointed to the obstacle it created for Scotland in terms of attracting workers, including care sector staff, as well as helping to raise revenue through their taxes.
“The decision to leave the European Union which Scotland did not support has inflicted significant economic damage on Scotland and, indeed, on the United Kingdom as a whole,” he said. “The cost of doing business has increased for many sectors of the economy.”
Policy detail to be unveiled later Mr Swinney was reluctant to go into detail, and instead wanted to convey the “general approach” he and Ms Forbes would be taking and how they intended to work with others across Scotland to strengthen the economy.
“In the weeks and months to come I will have more to say on specific policies but, today, I am keen to set out the general approach that I will take alongside the Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary, Kate Forbes, to stimulating economic activity in Scotland,” he said.
During questions, The Herald asked the First Minister to give some indication of what, if any, business regulations may be reviewed after complaints of too much red tape, citing the concerns of tourist groups over the short-term let licensing law and by the property sector over plans to bring in rent controls.
He response he said the government was engaging with businesses and that the DFM had spent much of last week in discussions on these issues.
“Kate will feed much of that material into Cabinet discussions, “he said.