Business leaders last night hailed Nicola Sturgeon’s commitment to boost growth through infrastructure spending – but warned it must be the first step of many.
Hugh Aitken, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Scotland director, said firms would also be encouraged by the SNP’s pledge to work closely with the UK Government’s Scotland Office.
And Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, called Ms Sturgeon’s plan a “great example” of the Scottish Government making use of its devolved powers.
But she added: “It (the money) must be clearly targeted to provide a shot in the arm to Scotland’s businesses and to support jobs in the short, medium and long-term.”
She said it was a welcome “first step”, but asked it be followed up with action to reduce companies’ cost base, including a cut in business rates and an acceleration of the planned decrease in air passenger duty.
Andy Willox, the Federation of Small Businesses’ Scottish policy convener, backed the move to plug the “current information gap” post-Brexit.
But he added: “We need to squeeze every drop of value from this new spending – and that means ensuring that a fair share of these contracts, and associated sub-contracts, go to local firms.”
David Watt, executive director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, described Ms Sturgeon’s plan as an “assertive move to inject tangible economic action into the current business climate”.
And Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) Director David Lonsdale, said his industry welcomed the accelerated infrastructure spending.
But he added: “As Scotland’s largest private sector employer the retail industry would have liked to have seen a stronger emphasis on policies which put money into people’s pockets.”