Meeting of the Parliament 11 March 2015
We believe that the strong track record of the Scottish Government’s economic policy making is proof that we are best placed to make the key decisions about Scotland’s economic and social future. I believe that Scotland should be fully responsible for raising and spending all its own resources. That will ensure that we are better able to respond to the challenges and opportunities that Scotland faces.
Our policy is for the people of Scotland, not Westminster, to take the decisions on the issues that matter the most. The majority of people in Scotland support that. The powers involved include those over employers’ and employees’ national insurance contributions; those over employment rights, including the national minimum wage; full powers over working-age benefits and employment policy; increased powers over aspects of immigration, such as post-study work visas; and powers over business taxes to enable us to create a stronger economic platform and to create jobs and tackle inequality.
Exercising those powers over time will enable the Scottish Government to take actions to improve our economy’s performance, to improve the public finances and to reinvest the proceeds of faster economic growth in our public services.