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Plenary, 26 Mar 2003

26 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Scottish Economy

Wilson, Andrew SNP Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

Iain Gray nearly got going at the end of his speech. We almost got into a debate, and then he had to sit down.

My throat is failing me at this early stage in the election campaign, but I would like to say that it has been a privilege to be part of the Parliament's proceedings for the past four years. I contend that, in the next four years, the Parliament must acquire the power and responsibility of independence if we are to achieve all that we can. Many members do not yet agree publicly with that contention, but I ask all in the debate to open their minds and to engage in the debate on the basis of reason, not bluster, and of truth, not smear. As part of our contribution to a better debate, we have set out in our amendment our support for much of what the Government has said and for almost all of Iain Gray's speech. Any change of Government must be accompanied by some continuity, which we offer. We cannot compete on cheap labour and subsidies. We must go up the value chain.

The thrust of the strategy in "A Smart, Successful Scotland" is correct and we will back it, but that approach has not been, is not and will not be enough. Scotland has enormous potential, but we are not achieving it. The evidence is there for all to see. Our population is falling and aging. In the past 30 years, our growth rate has been one of the lowest in Europe. Since Labour came to power, the rate has been the worst in the European Union.

Our unemployment rate, which Iain Gray welcomes, is the highest of the UK countries and 20 per cent higher than the average in small European countries. One in four Strathclyde households has no adult in employment, and a range of regions, from Glasgow to Fife and beyond, has significant employment problems. Since Labour came to power, long-term sickness has risen by 23 per cent and the number of those who are inactive but want work has risen by 31,000—they are off the Government statistics and out of the Government's mind. We must acknowledge those people and not be complacent about the labour market, as the Labour party is.

Despite a commitment in the programme for government—the Liberals had better listen up, because that involves them—to create 100,000 new businesses in 10 years, which means 10,000 a year, the stock of businesses in Scotland is smaller than it was in 1994 and has remained virtually static since Labour came to power. If Labour and the Liberals had met their target and created 40,000 businesses during the parliamentary session, the rates income, to which Iain Gray referred, would be nearly £500 million more.

The point is that if we hit our targets, we achieve growth and create businesses. We get rate income and investment for public services. That is the growth prize to which Scotland has to wake up. That is what we all have to aim for. Labour, it appears, just does not get it, but it is what happens in every other country.

Over the past 12 months, Scotland's economy has shrunk, as the Fraser of Allander institute for research on the Scottish economy confirmed this morning. Indeed, Scotland's economy is now smaller than it was when Jack McConnell took power and sacked so many people. It is not his colleagues who have lost out over that period. Members should think about this: since Jack McConnell became leader of the Labour party and Scotland, the economy has shrunk, but he spends his whole conference in Dundee trying to lecture others about economic risk.

The biggest economic risk that Scotland now faces is to stick with the mediocrity of leadership and poverty of ambition that we have at present. Not only I and the SNP say so; Labour's own strategy note to Iain Gray said that the SNP's economic policy was clearer, stronger and more consistent than Labour's. The minister for interruptions, Wendy Alexander, resigned a year ago, saying that she could not get the First Minister to take the economy seriously, and then wrote to a former nationalist MP saying that the Scottish Labour party had not had an original idea in 100 years. Then it was revealed that more than 100 Labour business backers from 1999 had been contacted. Thirty had gone bust and were untraceable; 55 refused to support Labour; and one of the key leaders, David Murray—not a known SNP supporter—said that our economic case was logical and pragmatic.

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Plenary, 26 Mar 2003

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