Scottish Government ‘actively harming’ business innovation, Tories claim

John Swinney has hit back at Tory claims the Scottish Government is “actively harming Scottish business innovation”.

Conservative leader Russell Findlay said firms are being “stifled by a torrent of regulation”, criticising ministers for imposing “more red tape” on businesses.

He said this, combined with “punishingly higher” income tax rates in Scotland, means there are “fewer opportunities for aspirational Scots to get on in life”.

The Holyrood clash came during Scotland’s first Innovation Week, with Mr Findlay claiming the “Government is actively harming Scottish business innovation and putting jobs at risk”.

But speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Mr Swinney said he would not accept the “doom-laden analysis of Scotland’s position” from the Tory leader.

“Since 2007 when the SNP Government came to power, GDP per person in Scotland has grown by 10.3% compared to 6.1% in the rest of the United Kingdom, while productivity has grown at an average rate of 1.1% compared to the UK average of 0.4%,” Mr Swinney said.

“So growth in Scotland has been stronger compared to the rest of the United Kingdom.”

His comments came as a new scorecard setting out Government performance on a range of key areas was published, showing areas such as research and development spending and patent applications are “worsening”.

Mr Findlay also noted that on the performance of high-growth businesses, Scotland “is ranked 23 out of 28 European countries” and is “behind Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania”.

He added that on the ranking for businesses that are innovating, the scorecard “reveals a deeply worrying fact, under the SNP Scotland is ranked behind every single region of England”.

Mr Swinney however told him: “We’ve seen recent data which indicates that Scotland has the highest rate of start-ups in the United Kingdom, apart from one part of England.”

This, the First Minister said, “indicates the culture we are creating to encourage business growth and business expansion”.

He went on to insist: “The Government is always attentive towards supporting and encouraging and nurturing innovation in Scotland because it is the route to prosperity for our country, and the Government is delivering on that agenda.”