Economy

"We often hear that the UK faces one of the worst economic challenges since the Second World War.  Yet, we must remember that Labour seized on the opportunity of 1945 to create work for hundreds of thousands, not throw our workers on the dole. There is an important lesson to be learnt from this example. In every crisis, there is an opportunity to rebuild and a new hope for the future.

"I promise that a Scottish Labour government will not stand back as the Tories repeat the mistakes of the 1980s. Even from opposition and in tough economic times, Scottish Labour has fought tooth and nail to secure new apprenticeships for the young people of Scotland.

"In a time of ideological cuts that have shown disregard for the weakest in our society, Scottish Labour is determined to show that there is always an alternative. Youth unemployment has soared. Thousands face a future without the hope, opportunity or self-respect that work can bring. We will show that there is always another choice.

"Scottish Labour’s priority will be to rebuild our economy, so that it is fairer, greener and buoyant with opportunity.  We will make the Scottish Parliament a place of action, to stand up for young people and set out a new agenda. With the Green New Deal, the Scottish Future Jobs Fund and the apprenticeship guarantee, we will put job creation front and centre of all we do.

"Our Scottish Labour politics were forged from a deep belief in solidarity, when times were hard for ordinary people. We remain on their side. As we work to build the prosperity of our country and get Scotland moving again, we will not rest until we are sure that we are taking every Scot with us.”  

- Iain Gray, Scottish Labour Leader
 

Our promises to Scotland

• 10,000 work placements for unemployed young people through the Scottish Future Jobs Fund
• A new Scottish Living Wage of at least £7.15 an hour, beginning in the public sector
• A guaranteed modern apprenticeship for every suitably qualified young person who wants one
• A doubling in the value of exports over the next decade
• Robust efficiency savings, including scrapping the Council of Economic Advisors and the Scottish Futures Trust

Investing in people
Scottish Labour is determined to ensure that jobs are the number one priority of the Scottish Government.  We want every worker properly trained, well respected and properly paid and valued for the contribution they make.

It is our conviction that every youngster who finds themselves unemployed and facing an empty future is a human symbol of our nation’s wasted potential. It is a step back for the whole of Scotland. We are clear that there is a better future for our country and that is why Scottish Labour will deliver the young person’s guarantee – a place in education, training, volunteering or work for every 16-18 year old in Scotland.

We will deliver this guarantee by creating 10,000 work placements through a new Scottish Future Jobs Fund - real jobs and training for young people and others who have been unemployed for over six months, with upfront, flexible funding for businesses to create those jobs. We want to ensure that some of these places are targeted at those who are currently most distant from the labour market and face challenging barriers of access. We will also provide government funding to restart the national volunteering scheme ProjectScotland.

Another new guarantee will offer a modern apprenticeship to every suitably qualified 16-18 year old who wants one from 2013 onwards. To ensure success for this scheme, we will consider how best to deliver more flexible government support to businesses that are training apprentices, including encouraging schemes in key skill shortage areas and exploring how small businesses can form partnerships to ‘pool’ apprentices as workloads fluctuate, to share costs.  

Scottish Labour will also reshape Skills Development Scotland, making it a one stop shop that employers and employees can go to for information on education, skills and training. We will reform the careers advisory service so that it accurately presents the employment opportunities that are available to young people. Careers advisors need to be alerted to Scotland’s future needs, so that young people are made aware of the skills and qualifications that will be most in demand when they plan to enter the job market. The careers service must identify the individual needs and attributes of our young people and mentor and support them into meaningful employment.
 

A Fairer Scotland
The first job of Scottish Labour – especially during times of economic turbulence – is to be on the side of working families.  That is why we are committed to introducing a new Scottish Living Wage of at least £7.15 an hour, starting with those working in the public sector. We will establish a Living Wage Unit to monitor its implementation and advise the Scottish Government on annual increases in the rate. We have an ambition to roll this policy out to other sectors and will use procurement contracts to ensure that the private and third sectors are living wage employers too. Scottish Labour will also consult on New Year’s Day working.

We know that in these difficult times, many people are concerned about the income gap between those at the very top and those at the lower end of the scale. Introducing the Scottish Living Wage is one step forward in addressing these concerns. But we will also seek to rein in bonuses and reduce high earner pay in the public sector, stating with a five per cent reduction in all ministerial salaries under a Scottish Labour government.


Building prosperity for all
Growing Scotland’s economy and creating jobs will be Scottish Labour’s first priority. That is why we will task every Cabinet Minister in Scotland with ensuring that economic growth and jobs are at the centre of their ambitions for government and pilot economic memorandums, which will analyse the impact of legislation on Scotland’s economic growth.

Scottish Labour will create an Economic Cabinet at the heart of government, drawing on business, trade union and third sector experience to ensure the prioritisation of jobs and growth. We will scrap the Council of Economic Advisors, which has had little impact on policy-making.

Scottish Labour believes that Scotland needs investment and a clear plan for growth. Our future prosperity is not something to be left to chance.  We need to seize the opportunities of the new green economy and will therefore prioritise the creation of green jobs in renewable technologies – aiming for up to 60,000 by 2015 – by making the planning system more efficient and seeking to develop export opportunities. We will also work to attract at least £1.5 billion of investment from the Green Investment Bank and campaign to ensure the bank is headquartered in Scotland.

Scottish Labour will develop an industrial policy – including a manufacturing strategy – designed to improve economic performance and unlock competitive potential.

We will set a target of doubling the value of exports over the next decade, with a particular focus on high value manufacturing, including defence, aerospace and renewable energy. To achieve this ambitious aim, we will ask Scottish Development International (SDI) to produce new ways of promoting Scotland to attract foreign investment and to work with enterprise agencies in promoting export opportunities for Scottish companies. We will also ask SDI to work with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and Scottish Chambers International to create a new network of Scottish Trade Centres in emerging markets, using the expertise of the Scottish exporters already there to support the development of new exporters.

Not only have Scottish discoveries, fresh ideas and innovation – from the telephone, to Dolly the Sheep - aided our nation’s historic success, they will be the drivers of our economic future. We need to keep Scotland at the forefront of technology and innovation. Scottish Labour will therefore ask every Scottish Government department to develop innovative and small business procurement plans, which will reward innovation by ensuring new businesses are able to take advantage of public contracts. We will set a new target so that five per cent of each department’s procurement budget is set aside for innovation.  

We will ensure that Scottish Water is kept in public ownership, enhancing powers so that it can fulfil its renewable energy potential and use its assets more effectively.
We will also drive down the government’s spending on consultants.

Supporting business
Scottish Labour believes that the best way to create economic growth is through a strong partnership between business, industry and government. We will do all we can to be supportive of the needs of business, and as a first step, will guarantee that finance legislation and regulation will be subject to an impact assessment, which will allow the Scottish Government to understand the impact of measures on business. Business legislation and regulation will also have sunset clauses, so that the need for regulation is regularly reviewed.
We know that access to affordable finance is a worry for Scottish businesses, particularly small businesses. We will look to the Scottish Investment Bank to meet this challenge, ensuring that it is able to offer assistance to companies of any size and will also consider other co-investment models to meet the demands of business. We will task Business Gateway and the enterprise agencies with promoting these models to businesses.
We know that businesses want the recent reforms to Scottish Enterprise to bed in and we will not seek to fundamentally reform it at this stage. However, we will look at realigning the priorities of Scottish Enterprise to encompass a broader range of companies, as a means of addressing the gap that currently exists for those that are beyond the Business Gateway, but have not reached the growth rates needed to qualify for Scottish Enterprise assistance. We will also retain Highlands and Islands Enterprise as a separate entity and task it with developing aims that best meet the needs of the businesses and communities it serves. Our economic agencies should work closely with community regeneration bodies to maximise their impact.
We will work with local government to ensure that the level of service provided by Business Gateway is of a consistently high quality throughout Scotland. Using the Business Gateway, we will also establish a new Plus One scheme for small businesses who want to take on their first employee, providing support with personnel, payroll and legal issues. Scottish Labour will also continue the Small Business Bonus Scheme, with a focus on incentivising and rewarding small businesses that invest in training and skills, employment, capital investment and innovation.

Energy
Scottish Labour will encourage future prosperity by ensuring Scotland is a net exporter of energy and will work to improve grid connections between Scotland and the rest of the UK and Europe to capitalise on this opportunity. We will set up Energy Scotland to drive forward Scotland as a world leader in the low carbon sector. 

Scottish Labour supports the ambitious target of ensuring that 80 per cent of our energy comes from renewables by 2020 and is committed to a Green New Deal, which will provide renewable electricity generation opportunities to at least 10,000 homes - creating jobs, traineeships and new business for local firms. We will encourage the development of marine technology by doubling the value of the Saltire prize to £20 million. Any application for consent to new nuclear capacity will be considered on its merits, in terms of safety, environmental impact, the local community and other planning considerations.

We will not consent to new, non-replacement fossil fuel power stations unless they can demonstrate effective carbon capture and storage technology from the outset. We will also encourage operators of conventional power stations to develop models to minimise heat waste.

Tourism
Tourism is both a cornerstone of Scotland’s economy and a huge opportunity for growth and development in Scotland’s future. We must not allow tough economic times to halt the pace of progress.  

Scottish Labour will therefore boost the voice of the tourism industry. To do this, we will reduce the duplication between Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland, making Visit Scotland the lead organisation on tourism development. We also need to ensure the tourism sector uses the resources that are available to it to best effect and this will include improving the functionality of the visitscotland.com website, so that it can take bookings.

Many visitors to Scotland come for big events, like the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, but do not always take advantage of the opportunities to see more of Scotland whilst they are here. That is why VisitScotland and EventScotland will be tasked with delivering a ‘See More of Scotland’ campaign for event visitors.

To encourage growth in the sector, we will ensure that our cultural strategies – particularly those designed to promote Scotland’s galleries and museums – are fully integrated into transport and tourism strategies.
 

Supporting social enterprise and co-operative ownership
We believe that co-operative and social enterprise models play a vital role in the stewardship of our economy, caring for people and communities by creating jobs and sustainable growth. Scottish Labour will therefore consult on proposals to boost the role of community interest companies, support co-operatives within the mainstream economy and boost democracy in the workplace. We will commit to a review of Co-operative Development Scotland, which will consider whether it should be an agency in its own right and re-examine how it engages with the entire co-operative sector.

Employee ownership could also offer an imaginative and attractive alternative to workers who face their workplaces being sold or closed. Scottish Labour will therefore consider how the Scottish Investment Bank will support the work of Co-operative Development Scotland, including support for new co-operative business start-ups and widening its remit to cover housing. We will also ensure Scotland plays a full role in the United Nations’ International Year of Co-operation in 2012, by increasing the number of co-operative start-ups.

Scottish Labour will investigate the option of creating a loan guarantee scheme for social enterprises as a means of making the best use of government funding and explore the idea of local communities generating income from recycling locally produced waste. Not only will this reduce landfill, but profits will be reinvested in communities.

A stronger Scottish Parliament
Given the economic uncertainty of recent times, Scottish Labour believes the time is now right for the Scottish Parliament to shoulder greater accountability for its spending priorities and we will continue to support the provisions to achieve this in the Scotland Bill.

We support devolving more responsibilities to the Scottish Parliament, including capital borrowing powers and new tax powers, such as stamp duty on property and landfill tax. We also support responsibility for setting the drink-drive limit and the speed limit in Scotland being devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

 
Taxation
We want Scotland to be a competitive location in which to do business. To create an environment in which Scottish businesses can prosper, we will maintain parity with the English non-domestic poundage rate. We will not increase the income tax rate above that of the rest of the UK in the course of the next parliament. We will seek to improve the current system of non-domestic rates and will review the reliefs that are available. We will also review the frequency of non-domestic property revaluations, pledging that every revaluation will be accompanied by a transitional relief scheme.

Procurement
Scottish Labour is committed to delivering fairer, greener and more ethical procurement. The impending closure of Edinburgh’s Blindcraft factory is one of the biggest disappointments of the past four years, ending 218 years of supported employment for disabled workers. We want to do all we can to turn this situation around and will deliver government procurement that makes effective use of community benefit clauses and Article 19, and gives due weight to good working practices, employability approaches, local employment and the living wage.  We will strengthen the current section 52 provisions and other procurement regulations to minimise staff transfers and ensure that good employment practice is an essential element of procurement decisions.

However, in meeting these challenges, we also believe that procurement processes need to be smarter, efficient and more strategic. We want to take active steps to encourage new supply chains and to ensure that social enterprises, the third sector and Scottish businesses of all sizes are able to compete for procurement contracts, overcoming any potential skills and technology deficits that may be acting as barriers to success. We will reduce the number of procurement portals, making them easier and less time consuming for businesses to access, and will create a pipeline of more visible bidding and tendering opportunities, which will be advertised through the Public Contracts Scotland procurement portal.

We will look to the experience of Wales and Northern Ireland to see what steps can be taken to ensure that small and local businesses have the opportunity to take advantage of government contracts. Scottish Labour will commit to Scottish Government departments paying 80 per cent of supplier invoices within five days, rather than the current ten days – introducing spot checks to encourage implementation - and will use appropriate measures to encourage other businesses to shorten payment times to contractors.

Getting Scotland moving
Scottish Labour will not close-off any funding mechanism as we work towards delivering the world-class infrastructure that our businesses and economy rely on for competitiveness and connectivity.  We know that high speed broadband will be as important for economic growth in the future as good roads and railways. We will appoint a Digital Champion and bring forward a strategy to improve the quality and coverage of broadband, bringing pressure on the UK Government to deliver its commitment to roll out broadband access to all British homes by 2015.Scottish Labour will begin to tackle the maintenance backlog on Scotland’s roads, ensuring that those with statutory entitlements to dig up Scotland’s roads are required to repair the surface timeously and to acceptable standards. We are also committed to finding finance to complete the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse upgrade, the M74 Raith Interchange, and to deliver improvements to the M8, M73 and M74. We also aim to prepare a programme of continuous improvements to the A82, A1, A9, A77, A75, A95 and A96.
We will deliver the new Forth Replacement Crossing. This is a vital project to safeguard an essential link in the country’s transport network and will be the largest infrastructure project in a generation. We will deliver on our commitment to empower the public to choose the name of the new bridge.

The current economic climate means that the decision to increase VAT has raised the price of petrol at the pump by nearly three pence per litre, punishing motorists and hitting rural communities particularly hard. We believe these increases are unfair and we will continue to push the UK Government to reverse them.

We will be advocates of high-speed rail links to London and Europe and will seek to future-proof Scotland’s network to ensure this is a possibility. Our ambition is to see direct services from Scotland to Paris and Brussels. Scottish Labour will take forward the Edinburgh/Glasgow Rail Improvement Project (EGIP), including  seeking to improve journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh to under 40 minutes, taking forward Crossrail and delivering more commuting opportunities from Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, and from rural Lanarkshire to Edinburgh and Glasgow. We will consider all options for the Scotrail franchise, including public and not for profit models and will work to deliver free Wi-Fi and 3G mobile phone coverage as part of the next contract. We will reinstate plans for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.

We will support the modernisation of Glasgow’s subway and will campaign to ensure that any changes to the East Coast Main Line do not disadvantage Lanarkshire – Edinburgh commuters. We will seek to progress the expansion of through-ticketing in Scotland.

Scottish Labour will set up an Air Route Marketing Fund to support new, direct air routes to Scotland - particularly from the emerging markets - during their first two years of operation.  We will also retain the Air Discount Scheme, which has proved invaluable for our island communities.

Everybody benefits from lower levels of congestion and pollution when we take heavy lorries off the road and move freight onto the railways. Scottish Labour will support the Freight Facilities Grant to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail. We will also look at what can be done to make better use of inland waterways and improve links to ports, such as Grangemouth.

Scottish Labour will make the Road Equivalent Tariff pilot permanent in the Western Isles and will widen coverage to ferry services to the Clyde and the Argyll isles. We will work with the current ferry operator, with an ambition to reinstate a passenger service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge and ensure that all other options for a new service are maximised.

Scottish Labour will make certain our communities are served by better bus services through strengthening regulation.  We will improve the Green Bus Fund to help local authorities and transport providers purchase greener, hybrid buses, securing highly skilled jobs and improving the air quality in our towns and cities. The Fund should also be directed to ensure the current bus fleet meets a higher environmental grade.

We believe that the Scottish Government must take a lead in making the switch to greener modes of transport. Scottish Labour will phase out diesel and petrol cars for government use, including ministerial cars, and replace them with greener hybrid or electric vehicles. We also need to invest in new infrastructure for electric vehicles, with an ambitious target for 10,000 electric charging points by 2015.

Scottish Labour is also determined to see walking and cycling become a more convenient, attractive and realistic choice for many short journeys and will retain the target of ensuring that 10 per cent of trips be made by bike by 2020. To achieve this, we will ensure that active travel receives a higher proportion of the overall transport budget and promote the Cycle Friendly Employer Award Scheme, which recognises workplaces that put in place measures to create a culture of cycling. Where possible, Scottish Labour will work with partners to encourage bicycle banks – like those developed in London – and tube-style bike maps, to promote the growth of cycling in our towns and cities.