THIS week the Tories expressed their now customary contempt for devolution and the sovereignty of the our parliament. Holyrood passed the Continuity Bill, which makes sure that powers over devolved matters won’t be grabbed by Westminster after Brexit.
While all the other parties united to protect devolution the Tories huffed and puffed, delayed and obfuscated and generally tried to wreck the bill, to no avail.
But however much time the Tories waste in the Scottish Parliament, it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the time and resources which will be wasted cleaning up after Brexit. Who knows what mess our economy will be in after the UK leaves the EU, and for what? To settle squabbles in the Conservatives.
Brexit is only going to serve as a massive distraction at a crucial time of development in global labour markets. While the UK Government should be designing new technologies which will deal with the effects of automation, they are making backroom deals with the DUP and desperately clinging on to power. When they should be investing in skills and training to ensure that the one in five people who will lose out automation have new career options, they are appeasing Ukip voters with right-wing rhetoric. We can’t let the smoke and mirrors of Brexit detract us from forging ahead and building a better economy in Scotland.
These changes are coming whether we’re ready or not, and we can’t let them take us by surprise. Over the last couple of weeks, I wrote a series of articles in The National and organised a debate at Holyrood on autonomous vehicles – the challenges and opportunities. The Scottish Government needs the powers to plan and prepare for this new future – which is just around the corner. And to be able to stop diverting precious resources into dealing with failed Tory policies like austerity measures and Brexit.
One way of dealing with the pressures of automation is through a universal basic income, where all the citizens in a country receive the same minimum level of government funds, regardless of whether they are working or not. The idea is that through the universal nature of the programme, there’s a lot less cost associated with the bureaucracy and delivery of welfare payments. Everybody has enough to live on, and wages are earned on top of the UBI payment. This will allow for a smoother transition into automation, for several reasons.
The opportunity for increased entrepreneurship, which will bring new streams of innovation, growth and job creation. The opportunity for retraining, to more effectively match skills to the different job demands created by automation. Increased flexibility in the job market as people can move around more freely without risk of financial ruin. And an end to the unnecessary stigma that Westminster has created around receiving government social security benefits.
It’s time for us to stop cleaning up the messes made by a reckless, uncaring Tory party, and start building the innovative, future-facing Scotland that we all want to see.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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