Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce Launches Pre-Election Document

Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce has today welcomed the launch of ‘Delivering for Scotland – The Business Perspective’, a pre-election policy document drawn up in partnership with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce network.

The Chamber has published a challenge to prospective political leaders on the key issues that matter to Scotland’s businesses as they look to the future.

Launching the policy document locally, Gary Langlands, President of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said:

“As the Dundee and Angus business community looks forward to this year’s local government and Scottish Parliamentary elections, the key message we are sending out to local and national political leaders is that growing our economy must be the number one priority.  A more prosperous Scotland is good not just for business but also for all the people of Scotland and all other aspects of Scottish society.  Increased wealth creation results in higher levels of economic activity and more revenue for government, giving it the opportunity to invest additional resources in public services, infrastructure and social objectives.

“In order to achieve the economic growth we need in Dundee and Angus, we believe that action is necessary in five key areas: Regional Economic Development, Education and Skills, Transport, Energy and National Economic Development.  These areas are interdependent and concerted government action will be necessary to deliver real and lasting results.

“Scotland’s politicians are likely to face tough resource challenges over the next four years following the Westminster Government’s forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.  We believe that by focusing on economic growth, the new Scottish Executive will be able to deliver the most for Dundee and Angus and for Scotland.”

The key recommendations of ‘Delivering for Scotland – The Business Perspective’ are challenging.  They include: -

• creation of a single Scottish Skills Agency –Scotland has lacked a single skills body for too long and we need a unified skills organisation to ensure that the agenda is driven by our economic development requirements
• implementation of a long term Economic Strategic Plan for Scotland – this must be a long term sustainable plan driven by the political consensus achievable through the Scottish Parliament. This will focus on encouraging business creation and growth, reducing regulation and red tape, harnessing international markets, promotion of innovation and tourism
• introduction of R&D incentives targeted at SMEs – this is required to build communities of interest and focussing on high value technologies
• attracting new direct air links to international markets – this is vital to open new business opportunities for outward market penetration and the attraction of inward investment
• increase accessibility of Modern Apprenticeships – skills shortages and gaps are evident and we must address these issues in various ways including the need to make skills provision equally accessible to all people reflecting Scotland’s diverse demographics, age, gender and groups
• development of a 20 year structural transport plan – this is necessary to facilitate our growth and development in economic and social terms and to ensure adequate investment that is co-ordinated from local to national level
• scrapping of Tay Bridge Tolls and construction of a new Forth Crossing – there is an urgent need to reach agreement on the need for this and the and the removal of significant bottlenecks to further economic activity
• fully exploiting our domestic oil and gas reserves
• targeted energy efficiency assistance for SMEs
• further reductions in Business Rates