SFE responds to UK Government mini-budget

Following today’s UK Government mini-budget, Sandy Begbie CBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Financial Enterprise, said:

"After announcing steps earlier in the week to support and protect businesses and individuals from the impact of the energy crisis, the Chancellor this morning set out a series of ambitious actions to create the right environment for economic growth.

“In order to stimulate the growth needed to fund the amount of debt that is being built up, we will need to see action that is both strategic and ambitious. Our message to government has consistently focused on the need to create the right environment for sustainable and inclusive growth, while also addressing our long-term challenges with productivity to create a higher wage economy which will provide opportunities for all. While this budget is clearly focused on growth, we must recognise that there are major structural issues which require wide-ranging policy actions to stimulate the economy.

“This includes addressing unacceptable levels of poverty, closing skills gaps, supporting entrepreneurship and innovation, developing new post-Brexit regulatory frameworks, creating a business-led immigration policy and driving the journey to net zero. Without these fundamentals, we will struggle to create the business investment which is required to make this fiscal plan successful.

“Our industry is uniquely placed to support growth in the real economy, and we are also an ambitious and growing sector ourselves.  In Scotland, we employ around 145,000 people and have a track record of creating well paid, highly productive jobs that benefit the Scottish economy. The strength of our sector must be fully harnessed if we are to see the sustainable, inclusive growth that is required to deal with our deep-seated economic challenges."