MILLIONS of words have already been written about Brexit. Think tanks and research organisations have been making predictions, and the UK government has been under pressure to release its own analysis of the likely impact on Scotland. It is not enough.
Too much faith is being placed on statistical models of very dubious construction, and too little attention is being paid to what needs doing to prepare for the future.
Our research has focused on capturing the views of 236 business decision makers in Scotland, to better understand how prepared, or not, business is for the future, and what the key issues are that government policy makers need to address. We will be releasing our report and a series of recommendations tomorrow. What then shall we argue needs to be done? We cannot summarise all of our arguments here (our report is over 17,500 words long), but we can point to a few of our recommendations and lines of inquiry.
First, businesses in Scotland are finding it difficult to prepare given the combination of uncertainty and complexity surrounding Brexit. They need assistance. Surprising as it may seem, Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a funding programme in place to enable businesses to buy in expertise to help prepare for Brexit. We argue the Scottish government needs to quickly put in place its own equivalent initiative. Many businesses need to do the equivalent of stress testing their business, identify their vulnerabilities and put in place plans for the future.
Second, even we have been surprised that 76 per cent of our business leaders have said a key priority is for the UK government to come clean and clarify urgently the implications of Brexit for the devolution settlement. Whether it is the fisheries sector in Shetland or new science led companies on university campuses, there is a need for clarity to ensure effective engagement with appropriate policy makers. The lack of clarity is harming business engagement, which in turn is contributing weakness in policy development.
Third, Scottish business is hugely concerned about accessing the skills it needs, not merely to survive, but to develop and spur growth in our economy. All of the key sectors of our economy have concerns about access to skills. They want to maintain free movement of labour. They want to ensure sufficient emphasis is being placed on the development of skills for the future. Policies and strategies largely influenced by developments in the 1990s are no longer adequate. That is why we will be calling for a major review of skills strategy in the light of the fast changing times we are now living in. If we do not adequately address the need to access the right skills, our economic potential will not be realized, and we will face a decline rather than a resurgence.
Fourth, Scotland (indeed the whole of the UK) faces a series of finance and investment problems. As our report will reveal, there is an understandable loss of trust in banks, and a growing recognition that new types of business funding streams are needed for the future. There are some new innovations occurring, but as yet there is no coordinated strategy for the future. We shall be calling on both governments to do more to facilitate innovation in the finance sector.
These are only a few of the areas our report explores. Of particular interest to us, whether or not business leaders are leavers or remainers, there is considerable agreement on the need for better preparation, full access to labour and skills, greater clarity on government responsibilities and radical developments to support business and particularly SMEs as we face the uncertainty of the future.
There is much to be done. Time to start doing it.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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