IT was good to hear an upbeat assessment yesterday from Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, about the scale of opportunity for the Scottish economy.
Ms Fairbairn flagged “really low unemployment” and strong order books for companies, declaring: “There is such opportunity here.”
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She enthused about innovation at BAE Systems’ Clyde shipbuilding operations and said Glasgow and Edinburgh were fintech “capitals” of the UK. Ms Fairbairn flagged the strength of Scotland’s life sciences sector, and the “power” of the nation’s universities.
And she was very positive about collaboration between the Scottish Government and business on “things which matter”, such as skills shortages, productivity, and encouraging more innovative businesses to “go global”.
So far, so good. But Ms Fairbairn, rightly, focused on the “elephant in the room”, Brexit, as she visited Scotland.
She warned that a no-deal Brexit would be a “catastrophe” for Scotland and other parts of the UK, and emphasised the need for frictionless trade with the European Union. She highlighted the importance of immigration to Scotland’s economy. She noted adverse demographics and observed Scotland has “a very talented workforce but it is shrinking”.
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Immigration of EU citizens is crucial to Scotland.
What Ms Fairbairn’s comments highlight is the degree to which Scotland’s outward-facing economy, regardless of all the positives, could be damaged if the UK does not pull itself back from the hard Brexit cliff-edge, fast.
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