Chamber and committees

I am just trying to understand the issue. Looking at the graphs, we see that there has been a positive impact for Wales. Does that mean that its economy is growing faster than Scotland’s? What does Scotland need to do to try to halt the decline of the benefits of tax devolution?

Maybe one of the other Davids would like to answer.

It is good to hear that the Welsh Government is doing a detailed analysis to try to understand those figures. I guess that the Scottish Government should do something similar to try to understand why the figures here are going in a negative direction.

Would I be right in thinking that our current model was selected probably because the Scottish Government had more appetite for risk than the Welsh Government did when it was negotiating its block grant adjustments?

I will go back to the question of risks. From reading the report, it seems that the risks for Scotland and the risks for Wales are completely different. I am trying to understand that. Is it down to differing appetites for risk between the two Governments? Is it essentially a political decision that has been made by each Government? That question may be for David Eiser first.

I will start my contribution by agreeing with the first part of the Government’s motion. The resilience and innovation that employers and workers have shown through the pandemic in keeping much of our economy open should be recognised, so I, too, thank everyone who has played their part.

As we have heard today, labour markets across the world are undergoing significant pressures and changes. The United Kingdom is no different from what can be seen in the US, Europe, China and beyond.

However, there are differences within the UK, right here at home, thanks to 14 years of SNP inaction and failed economic policy. Our tax take per person is lower than the take in the rest of the UK, our welfare bill is rising, our working population is falling in comparison with that in the rest of the UK, economic growth is lower and our recovery is slower than recovery in the rest of the UK is.

No, I will make some progress first.

As we say in our amendment, that has been highlighted by forecast groups, and must be addressed by the devolved Government as a matter of urgency. However, instead of attracting investment and higher-paid jobs, the Government seems to be intent on driving business away. Decisions such as turning its back on the energy industry do nothing to reverse that decline. Another lost opportunity is the Government’s decision to block free ports in Scotland. We lose out, while investment goes to England.

I hope that we have seen another U-turn from the SNP Government, because so far it has not engaged with the UK Government like the other regions across England have. If that is now the case, I welcome that news.

Jobs and investment have been lost to Aberdeen, all because the devolved Government wants to pick a political fight. It is a disgrace. Another motion for debate has been brought before us by a tired Government that is attempting to pat itself on the back but is, in fact, doing the opposite by highlighting its incompetence. That is just like when Alex Salmond promised many years ago that there would, with the SNP, be thousands of green jobs, none of which have come to fruition.

Members from across the chamber have made interesting points. I think that we all agree that immigration impacts on our economy—but so do many other factors. As Daniel Johnson and Liz Smith pointed out, the economy has long-term underlying issues that existed long before Brexit or Covid.

The cabinet secretary ignored the intervention by Murdo Fraser about labour shortages in Europe and how the Accor group of hotels in France cannot get staff. Freedom of movement is therefore obviously not the only issue, when places in France also have labour shortages.

As Liz Smith pointed out, SNP ministers have refused to listen to businesses, failed to the listen to the Scottish Fiscal Commission and failed to invest in skills and productivity.

I will, at the end of this part of my speech.

The mayor of Tees Valley said:

“We have attracted investors who were originally looking at Scotland when some areas in Scotland were looking at freeport status, and when they decided not to move forward with the current UK freeport policy”

they

“have actually abandoned Scotland.”

If there are issues in France and companies cannot employ people there, how can we tell that it is worse here? It is not as though there are thousands of people lined up who are being blocked by Brexit. That is simply not the case.

The big issue is the weakness in tax revenue and the shortfall that it will bring. Liz Smith pointed that out and we heard about it at the Finance and Public Administration Committee today. That is the big serious issue that is caused by long-term structural issues in our economy.

I completely agree with Michelle Thomson that we need to train Scottish workers to the highest possible standards. However, Paul Sweeney was right to highlight cuts to the skills budget. Just when we need it, money is being taken away.

Jim Fairlie said that we need independence. Well, I have news for him. He does not like Brexit, but the SNP’s own economic adviser said that independence would be like “Brexit times 10”.

Other huge areas of failure by the Scottish Government are productivity and automation. I have seen nothing from the Government that will address those issues, which are long term.

The Scottish Conservatives’ top priority at the last election was employment. We want to create good and sustainable well-paid jobs across all the regions of the Scotland. We want to give people hope and opportunity.

We also promised unlimited apprenticeships for Scotland’s young people. Our demand-led model for apprenticeships would ensure that funded places would reflect employer need rather than unambitious SNP targets. We would expand funding for graduate apprenticeships, and we would extend choice in and availability of one-year and two-year foundation apprenticeships for secondary 5 and 6 pupils. We would aim to boost the number of apprenticeships that are taken up by women, and we would ensure that the UK apprenticeship levy is fully used for apprenticeship funding in Scotland.

The UK Government’s kickstart scheme has been a great example of what a Government can achieve when it is focused on the day job. New figures show that 100,000 young people have started new jobs through the kickstart scheme—among them, thousands of Scots who have been helped on to the first step of the career ladder.

So much more could be done by the Government to develop the existing talent in this country, so that we could boost our currently lagging productivity levels. There must be a real focus on workforce planning, skills training and increasing employee compensation for our essential workers. Scottish workers have heard enough warm words while seeing other parts of the UK recover faster than us. They have heard enough platitudes, but seen no action, from the Scottish Government, and they have had enough of seeing our public services being underfunded and our workers being undervalued.

It is time that the Government stopped playing politics with the issue and, instead of simply blaming Westminster for all Scotland’s ills, came up with proposals for how it can grow and flourish. It has had 14 years in power. It is time that it stepped up and took responsibility for the financial situation that Scotland is in.

I want to point out that I was in no way being critical; I realise that the systems were put together at pace. Looking ahead, we realise that we will probably have some sort of hybrid working in the future, so we should look at the systems. We probably have a bit more time in which to do so because we have something else in place right now. I was in no way being critical of the staff who put the systems together at pace.