Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 16 March 2021
I am not quite sure where Patrick Harvie is going with that question. The reality is that private capital investment is hugely important to Scotland’s economy. We recognise that we are not in a position—nor would we want to be—where every investment in every business or piece of real estate, every housing investment or every piece of infrastructure in the private sector is funded by the Government. We recognise that private sector investment is important to Scotland’s economy, and any business that is seeking further investment from the private sector would clearly recognise that, too.
Of course we are opposed to tax havens: that is not an approach that the Scottish Government welcomes. If Patrick Harvie is alluding to our green ports, which I am very happy to talk about, we are clear about all aspects of the green ports, and we will not proceed with them if we do not have conditions around fair work criteria—fair work first—or commitments on robust plans for the transition to net zero, or if there is not proper governance and enforcement in place to ensure that the current environmental, workplace and tax enforcement standards are in place, as with the rest of the economy.