Waiting until 2010 for a referendum on independence is the most
dangerous policy the SNP has ever thought of and would paralyse
Scotland’s financial services industry, First Minister Jack McConnell
told Holyrood today.
Speaking after Scotland’s Financial Services Advisory Board, of
which he is chair, launched its next annual strategy, McConnell said
that an SNP victory would affect financial services more acutely than
any other sector.
He said that he was particularly concerned about the promise of a
referendum in 2010 because it would create three years of uncertainty
and paralysis in the industry, with Scottish companies and investor not
knowing about what currency there would be and what kind of regulatory
regime.
McConnell said that there were only really two realistic outcomes of
the election in May – that he became First Minister again or that Alex
Salmond became First Minister, and he called on businesses to stand up
and express their concerns about an SNP administration.
Earlier, the First Minister told the audience at the launch of the
new Financial Services Strategy that the success of the industry in
Scotland depended as much on what was decided in Scotland as on
regulations from elsewhere, and stressed Scottish success in
maintaining a good reputation and a skilled workforce.
However, he warned that emerging economies were focusing as much on
financial services as they were in other areas, and said that Scotland
needed to keep on its toes and develop a long-term vision.
“Scotland needs to be seen to be, and be in reality, the skills
capital of the UK,” he added, emphasising the key role that
universities and colleges had to play in this, as well as the provision
of increasing financial education in schools.
Meanwhile, John Campbell, deputy chair of the Financial Services
Advisory Board and senior managing director of State Street
Corporation, said that a changing global environment was affecting
Scotland, with India, China and Dubai showing a hunger to lure business
away from established financial centres.
Despite Scotland’s reputation for having a cautious, well thought
out approach to delivering services and high quality products, Campbell
stressed that we were “only as good as our last set of results”.
However he said that Scotland’s distinguishing asset when it came to
financial services was the Financial Services Advisory Board and
Industry Group, because government, industry and unions were actually
coming together, and he said that the importance of this joined-up
approach should not be underestimated.
The strategy focuses on three
strands – people, profile and infrastructure – and looks at expanding
skills and innovation in the sector, maintaining and developing
Scotland’s strong reputation for financial services and the development
of ever better transport and communications infrastructure.
The financial services industry
in Scotland contributes around £7 billion to the Scottish economy,
representing 7 per cent of GDP, and at the last measure 108,000 people
were directly employed in the sector.
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