CBI Scotland calls for new Scottish Government to go full throttle on growth

Ahead of its annual business lunch in Edinburgh on May 22, CBI Scotland has urged the new Scottish Government to work tirelessly across party lines – and with the business community – to make economic growth the defining priority of this parliament.

With experts agreed that the Scottish Government faces a challenging fiscal shortfall in the years to come, the CBI argues that the country has entered a race against time to deliver a meaningful step-change in economic growth and ease growing pressure on the public purse.

To fire-up Scotland’s economy and put it firmly back on a path to prosperity, CBI Scotland has provided the incoming Scottish Government with a five-point plan to boost growth:

• Business rates reform: fix a broken system that impacts businesses of all shapes and sizes and is currently penalising, rather than rewarding, investment and growth. 
• Planning reform: give confidence to investors by fixing a cumbersome system that has become one of the biggest brakes on economic growth and has left too many strategically – and economically – important, shovel-ready projects waiting in the wings. 
• Upskill for the future: deliver a national skills strategy and reform of the Apprenticeship Levy system to make Scotland’s skills system more transparent, more suited to current and future demand, and better geared towards lifelong learning – instead of year-to-year firefighting.  
• Focus on competitiveness: close the tax and regulatory gap with the rest of the UK and avoid unnecessary policy divergence to make Scotland more attractive to talent and investment and ensure Scottish firms can compete on a level playing field with rivals elsewhere in the UK. 
• Get Scotland moving: commit to transformative infrastructure projects, like full rail electrification and the Clyde Metro, that will get people and goods moving around Scotland and unlock labour markets, investment zones, and supply chains.   

Keynote speakers at the event, sponsored by CMS, include:

• First Minister, John Swinney MSP.
• Leading entrepreneur and founder of The Hunter Foundation,
• SSE Chief Executive and CBI Scotland Chair,

Michelle Ferguson OBE, CBI Scotland Director, said:

“Our message to the new Scottish Government, and to new and returning MSPs, is a simple one: against a backdrop of rising costs and global volatility, growth really is the ‘only game in town’ – so it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get on with it.  

“That means using every lever available to boost productivity and unlock vital investment. Business stands ready to play its part, but urgency is key. We can’t afford to sit on our hands, or we risk a worsening fiscal position and the potential for great commercial opportunities to slip through our fingers.

“Yet, for all of the challenges that Scotland faces, the country stands on edge of huge opportunity – there aren’t many small economies that can boast our talent, innovation and knowhow. By backing our people and businesses, we can turn that economic promise into the kind of tangible, on the ground, delivery that can transform lives and communities across the country.

“Realising that potential doesn’t just mean doubling down on legacy strengths. It means being clear eyed about the opportunities of the future and staking our claim in the innovative, high value industries that are powering global growth – areas like AI, life sciences and the energy transition.”