Scotland’s economic recovery ‘a little ahead’ of UK, expert tells MPs

The Scottish economy is recovering “a little bit ahead” of the rest of the UK, but some sectors lag significantly behind, an economic expert has told MPs.

Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee heard from Professor Mairi Spowage, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, on the recovery from the pandemic.

The MPs are examining if various sectors have returned to pre-pandemic levels of activity.

Ms Spowage told them that coronavirus and other global factors had made it a “challenging” period.

She said: “The sorts of growth rates people were hoping for as we emerged from the pandemic haven’t materialised in practice.”

“Both the Scottish and UK economies have just got back to the position they were pre-Covid.

“Which after several years is obviously not brilliant”.

She continued: “Looking at the very latest data would suggest that Scotland’s a little bit ahead of the UK in terms of recovery.

“But that aggregate picture hides a lot of sectoral variations underneath.”

The manufacturing sector in Scotland is “well behind” the UK’s, she said.

Garry Clark, development manager at the Federation of Small Business, also spoke to the committee.

He said the recovery had been a “lumpy” experience for many businesses, saying: “It’s not been a smooth recovery at all.”