Scotland's Economy

As an amendment to motion S5M-05172 in the name of Murdo Fraser (Scotland’s Economy), leave out from first "notes" to end and insert “recognises the strength of the Scottish economy, with unemployment now lower than in the UK as a whole, productivity growing four times faster in Scotland than the UK, and the number of people in employment up by 45,000 since 2008, with the number of registered businesses having grown by 15% since 2007 to an all-time high; notes that most powers over the economy are reserved to the UK Government; acknowledges the resilience of the Scottish economy in the face of the slowdown in the oil and gas sector and welcomes the measures that the Scottish Government is taking, including the Energy Jobs Taskforce and the Decommissioning Challenge Fund; further acknowledges the wider measures that it is taking to grow the Scottish economy, including investment in transport and digital infrastructure and financial support for private sector business investment through the Scottish Growth Scheme, and believes that the main risk facing Scottish households and companies is the UK Government’s plans to adopt a hard Brexit, against the wishes of the Scottish people, impacting negatively on business growth and leading to skills shortages, which will in turn reduce employment, investment and public spending across the country.”