Kate Forbes: Scotland’s economy needs more immigration

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes accused the UK Government of “pulling up the drawbridge on migration” as she said Scotland’s economy needed more immigration.

Addressing the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Forbes said her party rejected the “depressing, denigrating narrative against migration”.

Accusing Labour and the Tories of drifting to the right to meet the challenge of Reform UK, she said Scotland’s political consensus on the issue had been “shattered”.

Speaking at the start of the final day of the party’s conference, with First Minister John Swinney due to speak later, Forbes accused the Labour government of selling out workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery, which ceased production earlier this year.

And she rejected Labour’s plans for new nuclear power plants in Scotland, saying it would take longer and cost more than focussing on renewables.

Once an SNP leadership contender, Forbes was making her final conference speech as an MSP after announcing that she will step down at next year’s election.

She said: “During my time in government, I have spoken to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of businesses, both small and large. They are ambitious, they are investing, and they are excited to grow. 

“But in order to grow, they need workers – just as the Labour Party tries to out-Reform Reform and pull up the drawbridge on migration.”

Forbes said the political consensus at Holyrood for many years had been about valuing people who choose to come to Scotland to live and work.

She added: “That political consensus has been shattered by Reform, the Tories and Labour.  
 
“And conference, for the sake of our values and the sake of our economy, the SNP totally and utterly rejects the depressing, denigrating narrative against migration. 

“We need people to come here, and we need them to contribute to our society, our communities, and our economy.” 

Forbes said Labour’s ambition was for “Scotland is to be more like England”. 

“I hate to break it to Labour, but trying to be more like England would actually make Scotland poorer,” she said.

The SNP government again affirmed its commitment to renewables in favour of new nuclear earlier this year after the announcement of funding for new power plants in England, including £14.2bn for the construction of Sizewell C in Suffolk and £2.5bn for small modular reactors in the East Midlands.

Scotland has one remaining active nuclear power plant – at Torness in East Lothian – which is scheduled to close by 2030.

Scottish Labour has pledged to overturn the SNP’s ban on new nuclear if it wins next year’s Holyrood election.

Forbes said nuclear was a “distraction”, and that it was “bewildering” the UK Government would focus on it instead of renewables.

She said: “It will take longer. It will be more expensive. It will increase bills. And it will leave our communities to deal with dangerous nuclear waste. 

“So conference, let us be clear with the Labour government today – Scotland will not be the UK’s nuclear playground.”

Later, the conference debated a resolution on nuclear energy, which MSP Bill Kidd said Scotland had to reject whether it was being proposed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer or “some other toxic bampot at Westminster”.

George Adam MSP said billions were being squandered on “nuclear white elephants that won’t produce a single watt of energy for decades” rather than being invested in renewables.

“This is a toxic legacy that will be passed down the generations,” he told the conference.