Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2026 [Draft]
I am not sure whether I have had the chance before to welcome you to your place, Deputy Presiding Officer, but I do so now. I also welcome the cabinet secretary to his place. For a first speech, I thought that he did very well.
I agree with Mr Flynn on the fundamental points of his premise. I believe that economic growth is important, because it is about the potential of this country, and that potential is measured in wages and jobs. We must all be focused on that, but it is complicated. I welcome that the cabinet secretary has added transport to his portfolio, because in previous parliamentary sessions, the economy has had a name check in the brief, but it has not necessarily had connections to the parts of policy that can directly impact economic growth.
In a sense, I do not envy the cabinet secretary his task, because it is complicated. It is a big portfolio, and he has a task ahead of him. It reminds me that I was once told by a former boss that, given the complexity of his job, he was not there to be liked but to be effective. I say to the cabinet secretary that he is halfway there already.
If we are to confront this issue, we need a bit of frankness and candour as we look at the opportunities that are in front of us. First, I say to the Government that it needs to confront some of the economic context. Time after time, the Scottish Fiscal Commission has made the point that there is a £785 million fiscal performance gap, which it defines as Scotland’s wages growing more slowly than those in the rest of the United Kingdom. Let us put that in context. That £785 million could fund Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Skills Development Scotland combined. We need to address and confront that gap.
We must also acknowledge Scotland’s relative economic performance. It is a fact that, between 2014 and 2024, Scotland’s economy grew by 8.4 per cent, compared with 14.3 per cent across the UK. Let us be clear—we need to be candid on all fronts—that that correlates with a significant decline in oil and gas extraction from the North Sea. Ultimately, we need to recognise the scale of the oil and gas sector and the fact that it is a declining sector, whether we like it or not, because of geology, and we must focus on how we replace those jobs. They are high-paid jobs that pay well above the median wage, and we have a challenge to replace them, regardless of our views on climate change. That is the reality of the North Sea.