Meeting of the Parliament 14 June 2017
No—I do not have time.
Our economy has lost out on money and jobs as a result of the SNP’s mismanagement. If we look at the growth sectors that our enterprise agencies are charged with focusing on, we see that five out of six of them had not recorded any growth at all by the end of 2016. When we look at the rate of job creation, we see that the rest of the UK has grown jobs in those sectors three and a half times more quickly than we have since 2009. The cabinet secretary is shaking his head, but those are facts that have been provided by the Government’s own statisticians. That is huge potential that we are not tapping into.
I turn to foreign direct investment. The EY report notes the increase in the number of projects, which is welcome, but the number of jobs that are being created is much lower. In 2016, the number of foreign direct investment jobs that were secured fell by 47 per cent, and let us not forget that in 2014, before the independence referendum, foreign direct investment slowed noticeably. Companies delayed making decisions until they knew that it was all over. That is another reason to take indyref 2 off the table if we want our economy to grow.
Internationalisation, innovation, investment and inclusive growth are all laudable headlines, but the Government’s strategy takes no account of Brexit and no account of what it needs to do to change. The Fraser of Allander institute said that it needs to be urgently reviewed. It is simply not credible to continue as normal.
Let me make one final observation.