Scotland’s new deputy first minister vows to cut burdens on business

Kate Forbes, Scotland’s new deputy first minister, has pledged to reduce the burdens on business to help attract new investment after meeting with senior executives on her first day in the job.

“Scotland is open for business,” Forbes, who is also economy secretary, told the Financial Times. “We want your business, we value your business, and we are here to listen and ensure that your investment is as simple and straightforward as possible in the shared objective of creating jobs.”

John Swinney, Scotland’s new first minister, who appointed Forbes as his deputy on Thursday, has vowed to pursue a moderate, centre-left policy agenda in his new minority government.

He has said he will elicit the support of other parties to make legislative progress on economic growth and his main priority of eradicating child poverty. 

Forbes will take over the New Deal for Business, a consultation group launched by former first minister Humza Yousaf to reset strained government relations with business. Yousaf resigned at the end of last month after triggering a political crisis by ripping up the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Greens.

The previous SNP-Green coalition’s progressive policies had caused a backlash from the private sector, with many executives complaining that the higher tax burden on better-paid workers and steeper business rates compared to the rest of the UK, as well as erratic policymaking, was undermining Scotland’s competitiveness.

Financiers have warned that rich residents were already redomiciling their tax affairs in England while employees at some Scottish companies were complaining about lower take-home pay than their peers in the rest of the UK.

The SNP has defended its progressive tax regime as a means to offset Westminster austerity and said no evidence indicates an exodus of well-paid workers. 

Forbes, who has previously argued that continual tax rises are counterproductive, said discussion about tax policy would have to wait for the next budget. 

Forbes said business and union representatives had used the meeting on Thursday to call for more support on skills and employability and ensure that ministers would pursue “big opportunities”. 

The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch said opportunities from the “just transition” — the shift away from Scotland’s legacy oil and gas industry into renewable energy — were “enormous”.

She added: “But these opportunities are not inevitable — they require government and business and industry to be working in lockstep.”

Japanese company Sumitomo, for example, is building a £350mn factory in Nigg, northern Scotland, to manufacture high-voltage subsea cables to tap into the growing demand from the offshore wind sector. Scotland has plans for 45gW of offshore wind projects. 

“We have seen big investments, such as Sumitomo and others,” she said. “We want more and more of those examples.” 

She pledged to invest in infrastructure and housing to make Scotland an “even more attractive opportunity” for domestic and international capital.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, welcomed Forbes' initiative to reach out so early into her tenure and said the meeting underlined “our shared commitment to economic growth”.

Sandy Begbie, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, also praised the willingness to listen. “The first minister’s focus on putting economic growth at the heart of his agenda, coupled with the deputy first minister’s desire to engage with business so swiftly, is to be welcomed,” he said, adding: “This is a good signal for business, but delivery is what matters.”