The Open Minds column in The National on March 31 (“How indy can boost our innovation nation status”) makes a valid general point about the importance of innovation and how Scotland will have greater potential to become an independent country with an innovative economy. Unfortunately the content of the article just proceeds to turn this into a slogan lacking any convincing strategic long-term vision.
Why is that when there is a discussion about innovation that the gaming industry is at the top of the list? The piece mentions the bio-tech industry and vaccine development but it could hardly be unaware of the strategic importance of this industry in the circumstances of an ongoing pandemic.
But where is the discussion about innovation in agriculture and food production, forestry, construction, materials innovation, energy ... and all the absolutely fundamental sectors of the economy we need to develop in order that our country is more resilient and can thrive without damaging the planet we live on any more? Where is the discussion about innovation in the way we design our financial system so it allocates capital to support these strategically important industries?
READ MORE: This is how independence can boost our innovation nation status
It is all too shallow. Compare that with the vision contained in the book Scotland 2070 by Hillary Sillitto and others, or with Common Weal’s visionary and comprehensive “Our Common Home Plan” for a Scottish Green New Deal. The gaming industry certainly has its part to play in our future economy but there are other more fundamental priorities in an industrial and innovation strategy for the future.
Verdict – MUST DO BETTER.
Jim Osborne
Convenor, Scottish Banking & Finance Group
MARCO Biagi claims he is “working on the independence case every day” and I accept he must know how he spends his time but would he please supply some evidence to back his claim?
He then effectively makes my original point by saying “the Scottish Government has focused virtually all its resources on fighting the pandemic”. Of course the government must fight the pandemic, but the party does not need to give up on its main reason for existence. As I said before, the Unionist parties have not stopped attacking independence just because there is a pandemic.
He says the public would rightly complain if civil service resources were diverted to promote independence, but that is not what was being suggested. Plenty of good ideas are coming from the Yes movement, from the Common Weal, from Believe in Scotland and from the group working on setting up a Scottish Reserve Bank but the SNP largely ignores them and sometimes even attacks them.
Whatever happened to the rebuttal unit we were promised? What happened to the setting up of proper Scottish data so that the misleading claims of GERS could be countered? The National does fact-checks and amateurs like me write rebuttals for Yes hubs to use, but where is the leadership from the SNP?
I agree with Mr Biagi that we are on the same side and must work together. I recognise that the SNP are the main vehicle to get us to independence, which is why I am pleading that they show us the vision of what an independent Scotland could be and make the preparations to get us there.
Andrew M Fraser
Inverness
I WAS struck by recent research on the London School of Economics blog contrasting Scottish independence from the rest of the UK with the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic’s “Velvet Divorce” of 1993.
In the years post-independence, it is apparent that the Czech Republic substituted their exports and imports away from the Slovak Republic; the Slovak Republic did the same, substituting their exports and imports away from the Czech Republic, both in favour of Germany.
For the economically smaller state, the Slovak Republic quite quickly substituted away from what was its much larger, more significant, export partner to what was a much smaller partner. That is to say, the Slovak Republic’s exports to Germany were nearly three times less than to the Czech Republic in 1993, but as of 2019, the Slovak Republic’s exports to Germany were nearly two times greater than to the Czech Republic.
While the majority of Scotland’s trade is with the rest of the UK, exports to the EU grew by an average of 4% per year over the last five years. Since 2010, growth to the EU outpaced growth to the rest of the world and the rest of the UK by a significant margin. Scotland is not only becoming more economically integrated with the EU but seemingly also with non-EU partners.
Our historic economic performance has been strong, which bodes well for a small, open and independent Scotland. With modest population growth alongside good GDP growth, supported by stable participation in international trade, it seems Scotland is in a far better initial condition than either the Czech or Slovak republics, and can therefore expect similar (if not better) post-independence outcomes.
READ MORE: Scotland's economy can thrive after independence, Downing Street adviser admits
Considering Scotland has all the necessary machinery in place to become an independent state, there is no obvious reasons why Scotland would not succeed economically if it were to become so.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
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