Originally Posted by
squidge
There are key ways in which Scotland could do things differently with the economy if it had FFA, things that aren't being done now or that with controls over raising our own money and spending and investing our own money we could see the economy grow and there is plenty of evidence out there to support different strategies to the austerity one we see from the Tories. We have been talking about investing in capital projects to help grow the economy. The Scottish Government has been doing that already. This works in several ways, it creates jobs and therefore wealth, it creates confidence in investors that Scotland is a forward thinking and growing economy and therefore a good place to invest for example. There are figures from various sources which show how this works but Civil Engineering industry figures show that for every £1 billion of investments in infrastructure GDP increases by £1.3 billion and there is a knock on in that, as it creates a more competitive environment for business then it gives an economic benefit of £2.8 billion as more companies see Scotland as a place to invest and create work. We may need to borrow to do that, just like you may need to borrow on a mortgage to replace a failing roof and increase the value of your house. That might lead to increased repayments or taking longer to pay the mortgage back but you would reckon the benefits are worth it. Also just like your failing roof - the work is absolutely necessary. That's a bit simplistic but it serves an illustrative purpose. Borrowing to invest in capital projects is worth it for the payback in the terms of benefits to the economy. We were talking in the post about the NHS of the need for better infrastructure and this is a way to ensure that we do that.I talk about inequality often as a welfare issue but it's an economic issue too. Investment in childcare increases the number of parents able to work, reduces the welfare bill and improves employment levels. Better education, ensuring that children live in homes where they are getting enough food, warmth and a place to study and grow. Where poverty grows educational attainment falls. Better support and encouragement to move people into work and high quality jobs programmes are all needed to create a vibrant, educated and work ready population. The Scottish government has had much better success with its community jobs fund and modern apprenticeships, than the appalling parody of a work programme that the Tories have in place. Changing the way we mange benefits would reduce costs, improve outcomes and increase people moving into work with very little expense. In fact the SNP are committed to stopping the roll out of the massively massively expensive white elephant that is universal Credit and the utter waste of money that the DLA replacement PIP is turning out to be. Just doing this would reduce spending in Scotland without making one single cut . By reducing inequality we are able to contribute to growing our economy. A fairer society isn't just a pipe dream of a woolly liberal, it's a necessity if we want the strongest possible economy. Supporting business is of course key, the Scottish Government is committed to staying in Europe and it is massively important for all sorts of businesses that we do so. Scotland must grow its exports and its “brand” to be successful. The referendum turned up information to show that Britains embassies abroad charge Scotland for promoting whisky. What's that all about? In addition, Scotland’s whisky exports and the duty paid for those exports are not credited to Scotland's accounts as it stands at the moment. They don't appear on the figures for Scotland. That would change. The SNP has dropped its commitment to a reduction in corporation tax and confirms its commitment to SME's in its manifesto. It has promised a better fairer tax regime in everything it has put out for the last ten years, ensuring that there is no avoidance and better targeted investment. We need the Amazons of this world I'm sure but we also need the smaller companies to have the opportunity to grow and we could do this through changing the tax regime.We also need to be innovative. We need to encourage research and development particularly in the green economy, in renewables, green energy and so on. Now I know nothing much about energy – as you will see I have been in a conversation with Rob about this - but there are clearly issues and opportunities to be grabbed. The Scottish Government is committed to better investment but we have work to do to see how we can do this better. I'm not simply talking about wind either. I tend to think we need to change our approach to how we use wind energy. In Europe it appears many countries encourage small developments rather than The large windfarms we see here. So each village has its own windmills and they seem much happier with that than we do here. Where my parents live they have three windmills servicing a number of scattered villages and they are really positive about them. There was an attempt to do something similar on the Black Isle recently but it failed to get enough support. Maybe Rob can talk to us about these issues. I know I haven't talked about oil. But with or without oil Scotland has the ability to do all the things I talked about with FFA. Without FFA it can only do a small bit and even with FFA we can't do as much as we could have with Independence. Finally and I knew this was going to be a long one but I have to remind you of this. FFA is not independence. Scotland with FFA will not be in a position to do all this stuff at once or maybe even never. This is why there is little actual detail. Some of the things I have spoken about – like ending the roll out of PIP, like the investments proposed for capital projects are there already. Reinstating the 50p tax rate, closing tax loopholes are also proposed but even these may be difficult. It all depends on what the UK lets us have. Just like we had to ask for the money to offset the bedroom tax because we don't have permission from WM to abolish it FFA is dependent on getting permission from the government. Even with FFA there will still continue to need to be a financial settlement every single year as we negotiate how much we have we to pay Westminster for x or y; for which project we need to contribute towards; for how we have our voices heard in Europe; to ensure that things like the CAP funding reaches our farmers and isn't held onto by Westminster as it is being now – all £135 million of it; how our ministers are included in things like fisheries negotiations – Richard Lochhead, the longest serving fisheries minister in Europe - is excluded from those negotiations at the moment, that can't happen if we have FFA. I have massive concerns about FFA but we need control over tax, spending and borrowing if we are to do ANYTHING to move Scotland in the direction that people voted for when they sent 56 SNP MPs to Westminster.
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