Meeting of the Parliament 17 September 2019
As members who have spoken in the debate have said, this has been a thorough and good debate. I agree with Pauline McNeill that it should not be a cuddly debate, though I was pleased that Jeremy Balfour recognised the significant age difference between me and Liam McArthur—I was quite happy about that.
There has been some good humour throughout the debate, but when parliamentarians agree fundamentally about the principles of something like credit unions and the good that they can do by promoting an ethical approach to finance, financial inclusion and saving in the community, it carves out a space in which we can all work together to capture thoughts, ideas, expertise and suggestions from parliamentarians from across the chamber about our future vision and ambition for credit unions in Scotland.
Furthermore, I agree that, although there is consensus, the debate has not been cuddly, because it has sought to tackle the extremely serious issues of financial inclusion, financial resilience and social inequality. Andy Wightman was correct to make a serious point about the democratisation of the financial landscape.
Through engagement with the credit union sector and from listening to what was said in the debate on credit unions that we had at the start of the year, I realised that there was a need to have a more coherent, sustained and strategic approach to growing credit unions. In their speeches, members identified significant themes that ought to form the basis of what should be examined in the strategy. Andy Wightman was right to point out that the strategy should not be developed in isolation but should display awareness of the bigger picture and that it will undoubtedly interact with other policy work.
With the economic impact of Brexit uppermost in our minds, ensuring people’s financial resilience is ever more important. Using the findings of the Scottish household survey about who is saving and the link across to housing tenure will be vital in our work as we reimagine the housing sector in Scotland up to 2040.
Michelle Ballantyne and Andy Wightman provided a useful international context, enabling us to explore why there is stronger support for credit unions in other countries, and they talked about other models and approaches in other parts of the world.
Members were right to point to the fact that credit unions should not be viewed simply as banks for poor folk. That is an absolute myth that needs to be debunked, and we sought to do that in the campaign that we supported last year. Growing membership, unashamedly promoting the ethos of putting people before profit and rooting ourselves in our communities will give us a strong platform to expand the impact of credit unions. Jeremy Balfour, Liam McArthur and Michelle Ballantyne all made points about that.
I agree with Angela Constance, who said that our ambition should not be limited to being a bit better than the rest of the UK and congratulating ourselves on the 400,000-plus members of credit unions. We need to promote what credit unions do, what they contribute and how they help us to make good on our fairer Scotland ambitions and our desire to rebalance our economy in a sensible and far more ethical way.
Johann Lamont made a good point about research. I will certainly look into that, because a strategy must be based on solid information rather than assumptions. I will get back to her on the issues that she raised.
It was also useful to hear about Maureen Watt’s experience of what happens when credit unions do not have enough members. A credit union in that position must pay the ultimate price and close.
I agree with the point that credit unions should be involved in the development of the strategy. The co-operative principles of credit unions must underpin the approach that we take. We must develop the strategy co-operatively and collaboratively alongside credit unions. When I met representatives of the sector in the summer, it was clear that they want to act together for the benefit of their sector. I reiterate what I said in my opening remarks and reflect the points that were made by Ruth Maguire and Tom McArthur—I am sorry; Tom Arthur and Liam McArthur—who, in speaking about credit unions in their areas, illustrated just how diverse the sector is and emphasised that we must not stymie or unintentionally quash that special element through having a national approach and a national strategy.