Meeting of the Parliament 30 October 2024
Ministers are always pleased if opposition parties put on the table what we would do differently. I say to the minister that that is exactly why we choose to have this kind of debate in Conservative time. We are doing it because it is so important. That is the reason.
To put the debate in context, we should look at what has been said to the Scottish Government by independent analysts throughout the course of this year. They have been debating extensively the predicament that the Scottish Government finds itself in not only because of the big black hole in the public finances but because of the difficulties that the Scottish Government has imposed on itself. They flagged up, first, the failure to deliver sustained economic growth; secondly, issues with delivery of better public services; and, thirdly, concerns over tax structures—especially the differentials. That has all been flagged up to the Scottish Government and that is the context in which we should be discussing these economic changes.
The bottom line is that Scotland is nowhere near producing the necessary growth levels—I completely refute what Lorna Slater said about that. I do not disagree about having a wider definition, but the fundamental point about economic growth is that we desperately need it to provide jobs, better incomes and all the things that people want.
If we listen to senior figures in business, which we do regularly, they all tell us that Scotland is not making best use of the resources that it has—especially our most talented people. They worry, too, about Scotland’s increasing tax burden and the effect that that is having on middle to high earners—the people whom we desperately need to attract into the more important Scottish markets such as financial services, energy and technology, and food and drink.