The Scottish Government

Finance and Sustainable Growth Secretary John Swinney

Friday, November 30, 2007

For too long Scotland's economy has underperformed. Not only does our historically low growth rate compare poorly with the UK, but we are left standing by successful small independent countries like Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

For too long politicians have sat complacently while young bright and mobile Scots have left this country to seek better opportunities elsewhere. The world is full of successful Scots. We want to create the opportunities to enable our talented people to build a successful Scotland.

Ours is a government of ambition. That is why we are determined to match or exceed the UK's growth rate by 2011. We will create the conditions for successful business and through them make Scotland wealthier. And we want to see more Scots sharing in that wealth.

We want Scots to benefit from the learning process on a lifelong basis - we want people to go to university or college to improve their chances of a good job, or to improve their performance in the job they are in and so to contribute ever more to the economic growth of our nation.

We can make a good start with the powers currently available to the parliament. With greater powers we could do so much more - more to attract and retain business activity, for example, and ensure that the additional wealth they create helps to fund the front-line services we need to make our country more productive, more competitive, and just.

With over 1,500 responses in two weeks I am delighted at the overwhelming response to the national conversation. I welcome the debate it has generated across all sectors of Scottish society on ways to make our country more successful, wealthier and fairer.

This blog is now closed to further comments.

Comments

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• 41. LB - Edinburgh

  Tuesday, September 4, 2007 18:29

  I support further devolved powers to the Scottish Parliament, especially on tax raising. It is a nonsense that 129 MSP sit deciding how to spend taxes but have no responsibility for raising the money. This means there is no direct accountability; nor is there the ability of our elected members to increase or decrease the overall and/or specific taxes to reflect the situation in Scotland. Taxes are set based on the UK economic situation which is heavily distorted by south east England and an entirely different economic reality may be the case in Scotland.
  
  Where I am less sure is on full independence and I appreciate this consultation opportunity to explore the options. I have just listened to David Cairns, UK junior minister for Scotland, on the radio demonstrating a lack of understanding of the devolved situation (claiming credit for devolved areas) while at the same time talking down Scotland's ability to manage the regulatory framework for North Sea oil. It's time the English branch of the Labour Party got with the reality on the Scottish ground. It took a change of leadership in the Scottish Labour Party finally to accept they had actually lost the election. Scottish UK Ministers would do well to adopt some of that same humility if they don't want to drive those unsure of the way forward into the arms of the Nats!

• 42. Lyn Jardine - Aberdeenshire

  Tuesday, September 4, 2007 19:55

  I've read through some of the comments posted and am quite disappointed that there hasn't been more discussion...... At first I thought it was simply a rallying of SNP supporters, then the odd 'scathing' reposte, a sensible suggestion followed by little more of the same.
  
  Its clear that there are a large number of 'issues' that the people of Scotland have concerns about. While I agree in principle to a refurendum to determine our future, I think this blog would benefit from strands of conversation around particular issues.
  
  Enabling citizens to participate in a detailed discussion about what a referendum might facilitate could help the debate along a bit more....and possibly lend a greater air of credibility to the discussion. Not so much a battle of hearts but minds.
  
  I am pleased that the SNPs administration (oops - government) has varied the political discussion in Scotland which is beginning to encourage some, who would otherwise not have engaged, to think about what it might mean to them. Now is an excellent opportunity to see if "Joe Public" really cares about other aspects of political discussion as well.
  
  Lets face it, after the bun fight over independence, it would be really handy to have an electorate that actually cared.

• 43. Ian Innes - Elgin

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 00:17

  The following letter was printed in the Herald dated 23rd Aug. Your contributors to the 'conversation' may agree that it is worthy of wider dissemination.
  
  Writer Ian Rankin has gone on record as saying that the 'national conversation' on Scotland's constitutional future made the country an 'exciting place'. By preferring 'conversation' to 'debate', Alec Salmond has endeavoured to raise the issue of 'where do we as a society go from here' above party politics. If it has caused a 'buzz', as Ian Rankin suggests, he will not be too unhappy.
  
  But if the conservation is to be meaningful it is incumbent upon all of us to set aside party loyalty for the duration. Whether devolution blossoms into full nationhood has little to do with party politics. It is about how we Scots feel about ourselves. On the issue of devolution politicians speak for themselves, and themselves only. Wendy Alexander should take note. It is arrogance to declare that a break from Westminster would be a disaster for the Scots without giving her reasons. Her defending of the status quo carries the risk of ossification as the present becomes the past,dated and irrelevent to contemporary society. Ms alexander's seeming stridency will do little to endear herself to the wider scottish public. Her diehard supporters, perhaps, but alas a diminishing strand of the labour movement as more succumb to the reality of their own mortality.
  
  Even in the short period of devolution to date, the Westminster model of democracy looks increasingly jaded. In Scotland coalition government has resulted in the emergence of a more broadly-based consensus on issues important to ordinary scots. A strong sense of our common humanity has resulted in advances in healthcare,elderly care, concessionary travel and student fees. In these areas England is playing catchup.
  
  II

• 44. louise - Inverclyde

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 01:19

  31 stuart
  
  The SNP are sticking up for those who dont want independence they get to vote NO in the referendum DUH. The point is that the SNP are the only party who want to ask the poeple of scotland what THEY want. It is the other unionist parties that are not sticking up for all the people of scotland by refusing to listen or talk to the people. All the people. Alex salmond has made it perfectly clear he is willing to reach a consensus with the other parties they however are not willing to do this with him. This conversation is an opportunity for everyone in scotland to put their veiws accross. The only people who dont seem to want to be represented on here are the people voted in to represent us. SNP voters are angry because they feel they are not being listend to while they are willing to accept what everyone says in the referendum.

• 45. Simon Griffiths - Tipton, West Midlands

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 09:51

  As a Welshman, living in England I find the question of constitutional reform one that requires a level of debate based around pros and cons for all nations within the Union. History will always play a part in all of these debates, but it is critical to look at what works and what doesn’t. It is easy to lower the level of debate, like the Daily Mail, to one bordering on us and them, or invaders and foreigners; this leads to headlines of ‘the Scots get more money per head, paid for by the English’ or ‘the English are ruled by a Scottish Cabinet’. Such polarised views are no helpful, and mask the real questions for us all. Independence is of course an option, and one that given the events in Northern Ireland can be addressed via a referendum, this would be welcomed by all concerned, including the English. However, a federalised approach may also work, which is the case in many nations in Germany and the US, where sovereign states are linked through a common constitution (something that if the UK had would assist this debate); or a recognition that greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, though a good thing need to be counterbalanced by changed elsewhere, including amendments to the financial settlement between the UK Government and the Scottish Government, alongside a debate in England around localised Government there. If we approach this debate objectively all sides could benefit. There is a recognition that there needs to be a differentiated approach, in the same way at a local level where some Council services in one area are available to its residents and not in another, it is a matter of utilising the resources available to Governing bodies to do right by their electorate. Having visited the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly I have been impressed by the level of access and focus, I think the English Regions could learn form these natural extensions to the current fabric of the UK.

• 46. Alan Black - coupar-angus

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 11:39

  Well done SNP for your fresh look at scotlands future. We need a vibrant economy to sustain any kind of future for our nation. To that end infrastructure is the key part in starting that economy. The third Forth crossing is a matter of extreme urgency, We can do little until it is completed to remove the bottleneck that is west of Edinburgh. This, plus better rail and road links to ALL Scotland will help spread commerce beyond the central belt. The west coast above Dumbarton is bereft of anything but tourism and defence. We need to channel the energy potential of the west and far north to our grid and thence to the uk/europe grids. Only by doing that can we go beyond the Oil reserves and shake our reliance of the russians gas!
  Our way forward is inventiveness, it always has been, that and engineering excellence. We can take the world lead in carbon control by using our strenghths in those fields to kick start our economy throughout the nation so that we do indeed become all 'Jock Tamsons Bairns' and not keep it all in the Lothians and Lanarkshire!
  So in summary, build the bridge NOW, cheap trains/ferries to all communities. Build renewables/carbon capture energy generation and give scots the contracts to build this infrastructure. Find a way to do this and in 20 years we will be the envy of the world. We would be able then to forward our social care/education and humanitarian agendas.
  Thank you for listening.

• 47. Ed Gray - Aberdeen

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:25

  #29
  
  Your post simply reeks of tasteless, curmudgeonly innuendo, cloaked insinuation and crass, clichéd misrepresentation, of the kind one would readily associate with the stale cynicism of the worst kind of Labour adherent – an entrenched mindset which led in no small way to that party’s celebrated and long-overdue rejection in May.
  
  Despite your disparaging words and muddled allegations, you fail to make a single original or valid point in your frenetic spin against the SNP – in stark contrast to the catalogue of shady dealings, shedding of principles and sheer betrayal of trust we have seen from Labour at all levels of government in just the past 10 years.
  
  Before May, we barely had a Scottish Executive worthy of the name (‘White Heather Club’?!!) – let alone a Scottish Government!
  
  As better-informed contributors rightly remind us, this National Conversation is about airing the views of the wider public, not party politics. However, it is the SNP who have brought about this opportunity, and only the SNP who are challenging the London-led parties in Holyrood for the people’s right to decide their nation’s future.
  
  Ironically, in seeking to bring about a fresh perspective, free from past prejudices, the process has certainly succeeded in flushing you out!
  
  Away with backward-looking negativity, and forward to a brighter future!

• 48. Peter - Fife

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 12:57

  For Ant in Argyl.
  
  Which would you really prefer the strong voice that does not reflect your opinion or the small voice that is respected for honesty and compasion.
  
  What makes you richer, the cash in your pocket or the knowledge that you live in a decent and compassionate society

• 49. tommy scouller - isle of scalpay

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 14:51

  what a cheek'westminister telling alex salmond to keep his hands off 'britains' oil,90% of all the oil is in scottish waters and scotland does,nt see any of the revenues by international law the oil revenues belong to scotland.on the bbc news it stated that the revrnues were worth £11 billion per year.the only way for scotland to get it.s riteful share is by becoming independent because under devolution westminister will never give us more power no mater what nicol stevens or hurricane wendy says.just think what even half the revenues could do for scotland.

• 50. Fiona Murray - Coupar Angus

  Wednesday, September 5, 2007 15:30

  It is time we got our oil and gas money! Would successive westminster government's have been so anti the nationalist movement if we didn't have that asset? I think not. That says it all really!

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