Chamber and committees

Today, people across Aberdeen and the north-east are worried about their jobs, their families and the future of their communities. Investment in the North Sea is at a record low, and a Robert Gordon University report states that 1,000 jobs a month are being lost. Despite the swathe of warnings from experts, Labour failed to scrap the energy profits levy this week and remains wedded to that tax on the north-east. Does the First Minister share my concern that Labour’s choices will cost jobs and drive a more rapid decline in the North Sea? What steps will his Government take to preserve skills, save jobs and ensure a truly just transition?

The budget is a little over two hours old, and I have already had a number of messages and communications from constituents and family members about the content of that budget and the fact that the energy profits levy will remain. I have been told, “They are destroying Scotland’s energy future,” and, “They are taxing my job out of existence.”

Mr Lumsden seems to have forgotten that it was his party that introduced the energy profits levy in the first place. Rather than strutting about on his high horse, Mr Lumsden and the entire Tory party should be on their knees apologising to every single oil and gas worker for the horrific damage that the Tory energy profits levy has done to the industry. The Tories have gone, but, whether in relation to Brexit, eye-watering household bills or the energy profits levy, the promise of change has brought change for the worse under Labour.

The offshore industry desperately needs change for the better, and it desperately needs the energy profits levy to be abolished, not in 2030 but now. The levy needs to be abolished to keep oil and gas workers in jobs, to support the transition to net zero, to boost the economy and to protect communities in the north-east of Scotland.

The Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce estimates that 100,000 jobs will be lost if the UK Government does not get its boot off the neck of the oil and gas sector. It is not only the offshore oil and gas workers who will brave the perils of the North Sea or the Atlantic to ensure that the lights stay on and our homes stay warm this winter who will be affected; the tens of thousands of workers in the supply chain in every corner of Scotland and beyond will also be affected. The job losses have already begun. Just the other week, the Port of Aberdeen announced redundancies due to oil and gas activity falling by 25 per cent.

Labour must not do to the oil and gas workers what Thatcher did to our coal miners. Labour must stop following the Thatcherite blueprint of industrial decimation that has blighted Scotland’s pit villages. Instead, it must listen to Offshore Energies UK and unlock £50 billion-worth of UK oil and gas projects, which will sustain tens of thousands of jobs and, over time, deliver higher tax receipts while supporting our energy security and net zero ambitions.

This is about the ambition to reach net zero. We cannot transition to net zero without the investment, expertise and skills of our offshore industry and our oil and gas workers, because today’s offshore oil and gas workers are tomorrow’s offshore renewables workers. Today, the chancellor had the opportunity to abolish the energy profits levy, and I am gutted that she did not, as are thousands upon thousands of people who I and others represent. It is likely too late, but the chancellor could think again and abolish the energy profits levy. However, I do not think that she will, as neither she nor the Labour Party gives a flying futret for Aberdeen and the north-east of Scotland.

Will the member take an intervention?

[Made a request to intervene.]

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how Brexit has impacted Scotland’s food and drink producers. (S6O-05194)

Today’s official statistics show that Scottish food and drink exports are worth £7.5 billion. Although the food and drink sector remains Scotland’s largest international export sector and accounts for a fifth of Scotland’s international exports, there has been a 5 per cent real-terms decrease since 2018. That decrease, which is a result of Brexit difficulties, has had an impact on jobs, the economy and communities, yet Westminster Labour will not even consider re-entering the EU, the single market or the customs union to help exporters. Is Westminster Labour wrong?

Will the member give way?

Will the member take an intervention?

Will Ms Boyack give way on that point?

I am enjoying the debate thus far.

Richard Leonard might have surprised Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer with his socialistic approach, as it has been sadly lacking in the Labour Party of late.

This is more than just a piece of legislation. It is a commitment to transforming our local economies and creating a Scotland where economic success is genuinely shared by everyone in every place. Like other members who have contributed thus far, I think that we need to build on what is already there.

As Lorna Slater said, I would like to see us move forward on compulsory sale orders. We have already seen the changes to compulsory purchase orders that I put through, but there is still more to do. Beyond that, we must get procurement right. I note that Elena Whitham is sitting to the right of me, and that one of the companies that had benefited in her local area, Mossgiel Organic Farm, recently lost a contract, which is to the detriment of all. Those kinds of things must be resolved.

Community wealth building is fundamentally about making economies work for our people and our communities. It is about addressing economic and wealth inequality by actively supporting the generation, circulation and retention of wealth in our local and regional economies.

The principle behind community wealth building is sound. It is nothing more than increasing the velocity of money at the local level, and the concept of the velocity of money is brutally simple. The more hands that a pound spent by the Government or public sector passes through, the better. In the worst-case scenario, a pound that is spent at a large multinational company does not circulate in Scotland at all—it simply goes back to its headquarters in London. In the best-case scenario, however, that same pound spent at a local company can work its way through many Scottish hands. The local company pays its local suppliers, contractors and employees, and that money is spent again at other local companies, which in turn spend the money yet again with their local suppliers, contractors and employees, and so on.

That is vital, because when money flows into and is kept in an area, whether through good jobs, local business growth or profits being reinvested locally, new opportunities are created and more wealth is retained. That rewires the economy to deliver prosperity across economic, social and environmental dimensions. Key to making that work are anchor organisations and local businesses. Anchor organisations such as local authorities, the NHS, universities and enterprise agencies get the ball rolling by spending money in the local economy.

The next link is Scotland’s small businesses, which are the backbone of local economies. They can expand wealth to create local jobs, support community life and reinvest locally. However, that virtuous circle is currently struggling to work because almost three quarters of small businesses that bid for public contracts find the process complex and challenging.

Change is therefore needed, and the bill is a significant step towards ensuring the consistent implementation of the community wealth building model of economic development across Scotland. It will place duties on Scottish ministers and various public sector bodies to work collectively and to use the economic levers that are at their disposal to create meaningful local action. The bill will harness their impact by leveraging their spending power through procurement and their role as an employer to help to create jobs, reduce supply chains and strengthen local and regional economies.

However, it will be vital to keep local small businesses at the heart of the process, and we need to ensure that the vital economic leverage of our anchor organisations truly benefits the small and micro-enterprises that employ more than 900,000 people in Scotland.

I support the bill, and I will vote for it today.