Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2025
Scotland has extraordinary economic potential. We have been inventors in the past, we have innovated in oil and gas and we have key sectors such as renewables, food and drink, tourism and high-technology research that would do even better if investment was put into play by the UK Government.
Let us look at current regional inequity in the UK. Although the subject of economic regional inequity in the UK can descend into heated public debate, what is not up for debate are the plain facts. For those facts, we need to turn to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, whose data should be beyond political debate. It comes as no surprise to me that, according to OECD official data, the UK ranks 27th out of 31 countries for income equality. Quite simply, the UK is a country where the top 10 per cent are lapping it up while the rest of us are falling behind.
That, by itself, is shameful, but it does not tell the whole story. Inequality in the UK also occurs at a regional and national level. Again, we can turn to the OECD for the plain facts. On GDP per capita, Greater London ranks 11th out of 419 regions in the OECD database, but the median UK region ranks only 179th.
The gulf between London and the rest of us is not an accident. We have been told for years that a pound that is spent in Croydon is worth more than a pound that is spent in Scotland—a Boris Johnson catchphrase, if I remember rightly.