Industrial Communities

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:26 pm on 17 March 2010.

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Photo of Willie Coffey Willie Coffey Scottish National Party 5:26, 17 March 2010

I, too, congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate. I am not sure whether Bob Dylan has ever been mentioned in a Scottish Parliament debate, but I will refer to him later.

The ICA's report says:

"The old model of economic growth, based on ever-rising personal and corporate debt and the expansion of the financial services sector, is surely bankrupt."

That is quite a statement and it has been coming for a long time. The bubble well and truly burst with the near-collapse of the banks and the level of personal debt to sustain economic growth is measured in trillions of pounds. That the ICA advocates re-establishing our manufacturing roots will be welcomed by many communities that continue to be blighted by long-term unemployment and which the boom bypassed and brought little direct benefit to.

The UK national debt of about £845 billion, which is 60 per cent of gross domestic product, and personal consumer debt of about £1.5 trillion—a trillion is a million million—are hardly a firm basis for economic recovery. Long after we leave this place, our successors might well ask why that was allowed to become the economic order of the era in which we live.

The ICA's report is a breath of fresh air. It concerns itself—naturally—with some specific initiatives, but it also makes welcome comments about supporting older as well as younger workers and about retaining skills that remain but which are not being deployed. The report mentions the importance of economic regeneration and the priority of creating new jobs. That is not too surprising, but the emphasis is welcome and must encourage communities that hope again for a brighter future .

One major challenge is that the number of companies that are headquartered and which conduct research and development in Scotland is reducing. They are a vital resource to create the new industries that will produce jobs in our communities. All the advice that we are receiving is that we need to develop an industrial strategy to improve Scotland's competitiveness in today's and tomorrow's key industry sectors. We must be clear about the fact that we lead the field in some of those sectors. In addition to pure service industries, which include finance and tourism, we need to look for new developments in the creative industries, energy, food and drink and the life sciences. We can rebuild jobs for the 21st century in those industries. Recent announcements of progress in renewable energy are particularly welcome.

We should not forget the increasing importance of co-operatives, which offer a trusted, solid and sustainable model for economic growth. I said that I would mention Bob Dylan. The co-operative movement has adopted in support of its principles one of his iconic songs, which contains the lyrics:

"How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

... how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?"

Those are fitting words in the context of communities crying out for help from the despondency of unemployment.

I have previously highlighted the important role that science can play in generating new jobs. Scotland still has an impressive presence in all aspects of science, but scientific advance is usually turned into jobs after the advance has been patented. I was amazed to read recent evidence of the UK as a source of patentable ideas. Based on gross domestic product, the UK has fallen behind countries such as Denmark, Finland and New Zealand in terms of the number of international patents. That is surprising, although it may say more about the dynamism of smaller economies. I would be interested to see the evidence on Scotland's position. The emphasis on that in the report is welcome. We have to encourage communities that seek to move in that direction.

In its report, the ICA focuses on the important role of local authorities in economic development. I agree entirely with that and welcome the Scottish Government's decision to empower local authorities in terms of regeneration. Discussions have taken place between local authorities and Scottish Enterprise on the subject, and I look forward to positive news for East Ayrshire Council in that regard in the near future.

Those who were able to attend this week's jobs summit, as Cathy Jamieson and I did, heard of the need for Government to act smarter in supporting local areas. It does not make a lot of sense for local authorities to invest in getting people back into work if the complexity of the benefits system acts as a disincentive. The matter was raised at the summit. I look forward to hearing what steps the Government may take in response.

Two of my colleagues mentioned the Johnnie Walker and Diageo situation. A company in the modern era might take jobs away from our communities, but it can never really take the identification of a product such as Johnnie Walker away from Kilmarnock.