Hansard

Absolutely. Indeed, Mr Johnson has pre-empted my very next sentence, because I was about to talk about Babcock in Rosyth, which is part of the area that I represent. Babcock hopes to secure a contract, which is worth more than £1 billion, to build four frigates for the Danish navy. That is a real tribute to the expertise in naval vessel construction that we have established in Scotland, which is, again, based on Royal Navy contracts, and which shows the quality of the highly skilled workforce that we have in Fife and on the Clyde.

There was no mention from the Deputy First Minister of all the remarkable good news that has been all over the media for the past week, and nor can I see a single mention of it in all 18 pages of the document that the Scottish Government published today—“A Trading Nation: Updating Scotland’s Country and Sector Prioritisation”. The document is full of colourful pictures—I congratulate the school student on work experience who had a happy week in the Scottish Government, colouring in all the pages—but there is not one mention of the defence sector, which is doing so well for Scottish exports. There is reference to a sector called “Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing”—I wonder whether that is some sort of code for defence. I do not understand why the Scottish National Party Government is not shouting from the rooftops about the tremendous export deals that have been agreed by Scotland-based companies. I fear that, once again, student politics is at play, rather than any serious recognition of the Scottish economy’s strengths.

The Deputy First Minister referred to the First Minister’s visit earlier this week to the United States to meet President Trump to discuss the unreasonable tariffs on Scotch whisky and other Scottish exports. That is a welcome intervention by the First Minister. I am sure that he now realises how unwise it was to back so publicly Mr Trump’s opponent in the presidential election last year.

As I pointed out in the chamber earlier, there is something of an irony in the stance being taken by the First Minister, reflected in the motion, which calls for Scotland to rejoin the European Union. The European Union currently faces a tariff on exports to the US of 15 per cent, whereas in the UK we currently face a tariff of only 10 per cent.

As part of the UK, we have an opportunity to negotiate that tariff down, as the First Minister was trying to do. That opportunity would simply not be available to us if we were part of the EU, so the Scottish National Party’s plans to leave the UK in order to join the EU would be devastating for Scottish exports. We need to remember that our biggest export market for Scottish goods and services is the rest of the United Kingdom. The value of our exports to the rest of the UK is three times that of exports to the European single market. To leave the UK single market in order to rejoin the EU would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

We also see opportunities from the free trade agreement with India, which was progressed by the previous Conservative Government and is now being taken forward by Labour. At lunch time, I had the pleasure of meeting the Indian high commissioner, who is visiting the Scottish Parliament, and talking with him about the real benefits from that trade deal to both countries. It would have particular opportunities for the Scotch whisky sector, given the enormous marketplace that India represents for future growth. It is a market of a billion people, many of whom are interested in purchasing Scotch whisky, which is currently suffering from extremely high tariffs that will reduce under that trade deal.

That trade deal with India would never have been possible if Scotland was part of the EU. There was no interest in the EU in doing a deal with India. The deal was possible only because of Brexit. In her response to Mr Hoy, the Deputy First Minister said that she had welcomed the trade deal with India, and she did indeed. However, it is not the Scottish Parliament that votes on such trade deals but the House of Commons, and I will be very interested to see how her SNP colleagues there vote on that trade deal, given that that is where the support really matters.

I am aware that I am over time, but I will get to the end in a moment. There is an economic backdrop to exports. Scottish businesses continue to be held back by higher taxes, including income tax and VAT; the level of business rates; and excess regulation. Without a more business-friendly environment in Scotland, Scottish exporters will continue to struggle to compete. Addressing all those issues is within the gift of the Scottish Government. If it is serious about supporting exports, it needs to start reducing the cost burden for Scottish business and supporting growth.

We wish to join the SNP in celebrating the success of Scottish exports, but its policy solutions are simply doing more damage. It needs to wake up to the strength of the defence sector in Scotland and the value to our economy of exports from that sector, rather than being ashamed of such an important part of the Scottish economy. Those points are made in my amendment.

I move amendment S6M-18795.3, to leave out from first “notes” to end and insert:

“recognises that Scottish exporters operate in a competitive global market and benefit from the UK’s ability to secure strategic trade deals and participate in global trading blocs, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership; recognises that agreements with India and the US mark a positive start in expanding opportunities for Scottish businesses in these important markets, alongside deals with partners such as Australia, Japan and Singapore; highlights that Scotland’s key sectors, including engineering, advanced manufacturing, food and drink, energy, chemical sciences, and financial services, thrive because of enterprise, innovation and private investment rather than government brand campaigns; welcomes the strength of Scotland’s defence sector in winning major export orders, exemplified by the £10 billion Type 26 frigate agreement with Norway for Scotland-manufactured warships that will sustain thousands of skilled jobs and growth across Scotland’s wider manufacturing base; rejects calls to rejoin the EU, which would risk regulatory uncertainty and distract from delivering meaningful support; regrets that the Scottish Government continues to use trade policy to promote constitutional division, rather than business confidence, and calls for both of Scotland’s governments to focus on cutting costs for employers, reducing unnecessary regulation, simplifying trade routes and working in genuine partnership with industry to grow Scotland’s exports and secure jobs.”