Swinney plots green route to recovery

Published Date: 19 March 2009
By David Maddox

GREEN energy, the creative industries and life sciences represent Scotland's best hope of escaping the worst effects of the recession, John Swinney, the finance secretary, said last night.
Speaking at a debate sponsored by The Scotsman and legal firm Morton Fraser, Mr Swinney also said Scotland could only flourish by becoming independent. The former SNP leader argued that the economic crisis had underlined the strength of this argument."Our budget is at the mercy of UK decisions – such as the proposed efficiency savings that could see more than £1 billion lost to Scotland in the two years from 2010," he said. "As a government we will continue to do all we can to argue against that approach. Cutting spending is exactly the wrong thing to do at exactly the wrong time."He also highlighted the Scottish Government's six-point economic recovery plan – including changing planning rules, accelerating capital investment, promoting the Homecoming Year for tourism, launching BusinessClub Scotland and improving and increasing training schemes.The debate, held at The Scotsman's Edinburgh headquarters, was chaired by Bruce Wood, the chairman of Morton Fraser LLP, and saw the finance secretary debate with The Scotsman's associate editor, Bill Jamieson.