Hansard

Having campaigned for better support for the south of Scotland economy for 10 years, I welcome the fact that we will soon move from the establishment of a south of Scotland enterprise agency being an issue for debate in the Parliament to its being a reality for communities across the south of Scotland.

It is important not to lose sight of why such an agency is needed. I stood to be a member of the Scottish Parliament in 2016 because, as a local councillor who chaired the economy committee and the south of Scotland alliance, I saw every day that too many of the big economic challenges that the area faced were simply not being addressed. There is the scandal of low pay, with average earnings in Dumfries and Galloway being £11.52 per hour compared with a national average of £14.30—that makes the region the lowest paid in Scotland. There is the skills shortage: more than a quarter of the population of the south of Scotland are graduates, whereas the national figure is more than a third. There are also the low levels of productivity and growth. Gross value added per person in Dumfries and Galloway is 21 per cent lower than the national average; in the Borders, the figure is 26 per cent lower than the national average.

It is not just that those challenges were not being properly tackled; the opportunities for the area and its strengths and huge potential were not being fulfilled.

The south of Scotland is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a history and a cultural heritage that are second to none, but in many ways our tourism potential is still untapped. There are sectors in our region—forestry, energy, arts and culture, and many others—that have a reputation for excellence, but there needs to be more focus from our economic agencies on delivering the inclusive sustainable growth that our region needs from those sectors.

We have a strong small and medium-sized business base that provides many opportunities to grow and create jobs—with the right level of support. The current economic agency model has simply not delivered that support for the region. We have a vibrant and ambitious social enterprise base that is already making a difference to communities, but it is desperate to do more and to access the same support that is offered to other businesses to help to achieve that growth. We also have excellent local colleges and a university campus with the potential to expand so that they can deliver more of the skills that our communities need.

Our location means that parts of the south of Scotland are just two hours’ travel from 14 million people—the 14 million potential customers in the central belt and the north of England.

Crucially, the people of the south of Scotland have a real community spirit, and a desire and determination to make the south of Scotland better. That determination is the reason why there is such strong support for the establishment of the new agency and the reason why the people of the south of Scotland now want to get on with making the agency a reality.

On behalf of my constituents, I place on record my thanks to everyone who has delivered the bill to pave the way for the agency. That includes the cabinet secretary for taking the bill through Parliament and for the strong interest that he has taken in the south of Scotland economy. While he picks himself up off the floor, I will caveat that by giving particular thanks to the south of Scotland economic development team, led by Karen Jackson, who have supported the cabinet secretary’s work.

I would, of course, like to have seen the bill go further: on co-operation between agencies; on more local accountability; on tackling poverty; on improving housing; and on trade union representation—and, obviously, on using the word “and” instead of “or”. However, I am pleased to have made some changes to the bill to strengthen the aims of the agency through including, for example, support for social enterprises, helping to take forward the fair work agenda and, crucially, putting in place local consultation on the agency’s action plan to ensure that the agency is rooted in the south of Scotland. I appreciate that the Government has often had to move its position to ensure that those changes happen.

The people who deserve most praise are the people of the south of Scotland, who have campaigned long and hard for the new agency and who will take it forward. I have the privilege of living in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland and I am a proud Doonhamer, but it breaks my heart to see so many young people leaving the region not through choice but because of the lack of high-skilled, well-paid jobs or the range of further and higher education opportunities to deliver the skills that they want and which our economy needs. If we look back in 10 years’ time and see so many young people still being forced to turn their back on the south of Scotland, we will have failed.

It is now up to all of us to get behind and support the bill and make the new agency a success in delivering the strong and vibrant local economy that I know the south of Scotland can have.