Covid recovery needs the values that stood out during lockdown – Richard Leonard

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak is set to get worse and we will need to work together to get through it, writes Richard Leonard

Scotland's bus services should use the same model of ownership as those in Edinburgh as part of wider changes to the way the economy is run, says Richard Leonard (Picture: Alex Hewitt)

The last 12 weeks have taught us many things.

The capacity of people to make self-sacrifice in the service of the common good: from frontline health, care, postal and retail workers who are risking their own health for the sake of ours, to the overwhelming respect of the suspension of those routine civil liberties which in peace time we take for granted.

What is also evident is the re-assessment of the importance of the principles of community, inclusion, mutual aid and co-operation.

In fact a new poll, conducted for the Co-operative Party by Populus, has come up with some interesting results. Two are especially striking.

Pre-coronavirus, only ten per cent of people felt that sharing wealth was given priority in the economy but 62 per cent now think it should be given priority during the recovery.

And 59 per cent of people in Scotland feel like they don’t have a stake in the economy, with almost two thirds (65 per cent) believing the economy would be fairer post-coronavirus with more co-operatives, and that employees should be allowed to buy out the business they work in if it is at risk of closure.

These are strong messages. We know that in every community, in every street and in almost every home across the country, people are facing some difficult questions.

Many are just living through lockdown from day-to-day, losing sleep at night, not knowing when they can return to work, or even if they can return to work at all because their job or their business may no longer be there.

The evidence is mounting that Scotland was unprepared for this public health crisis, but it is also clear that Scotland was unprepared for the impact the crisis would have on our economy too.

The underlying chronic weaknesses of the Scottish economy have simply not been tackled.

We have seen deindustrialisation and the hollowing out of our manufacturing base when it should have been invested in to develop and diversify it.

We have seen a continuing failure to support our home-grown business base. And so, despite the measures introduced by both Scottish and UK Governments to help businesses keep afloat, many are already going under.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke to the Federation of Small Businesses who told me that a third of their members, whose businesses are closed, did not think they would reopen. This is across all sectors of the Scottish economy, and across all parts of Scotland. So, for them there will be no going back.

And at the big business end, we have another major problem. Only 18 per cent of large companies in Scotland are now Scottish-owned, with 42 per cent part of UK-wide companies and 40 per cent subsidiaries of overseas-owned multinational corporations. In big manufacturing companies, overseas ownership is now above 50 per cent. So critical decisions about jobs, investment, and, significantly, disinvestment over the next few months will be taken by largely absentee directors in faraway board rooms.

This is not a new phenomenon but under the SNP, this rise in overseas ownership has become much worse. The implication of this should not be lost. In opposition, Nicola Sturgeon called for economic nationalism. In government, she has presided over a major loss of economic sovereignty.

So, everything we know points to a slow and painful recovery; fewer businesses taking on new workers; consumers unsure about spending; culture and tourism still restricted for months ahead and entire industries, like aviation, at breaking point.

We are clearly facing a massive collapse of our service sector with uncertainty of future demand and so a reluctance to invest. And we know that our manufacturing base, outside of food and drink, is struggling to hang on.

That’s why Scotland needs a dedicated industrial strategy, a clear plan to deliver jobs, including a green new deal, to ensure both that we meet climate change targets and that we secure the jobs dividend here instead of the work going abroad.

The STUC has called for a two-year emergency stimulus of £13 billion of investment for an economic recovery plan and both governments must work together to deliver the scale of investment needed. We also need a job guarantee scheme because tackling unemployment, and particularly youth unemployment, must be our primary economic priority.

Our route map out of lockdown must include democracy in our economy. We know that community wealth building by local government could be a real engine for sustainable economic development and that co-operative ownership, and employee ownership have a useful part to play.

The challenge facing public transport demands a fresh and urgent look at public ownership options, most obviously the early return of ScotRail to public ownership and the re-municipalisation of bus services, taking a leaf out of the Lothian Buses ownership model.

The pandemic has shown the importance of strong trade unions. It has shown that people want to have a better balance between work and life and it has also shown that when people are at work they want to take more decisions for themselves and have more control over their lives and their work.

So tinkering at this time of national crisis will not be enough. It is time to think big. We must build a better economy, a good economy, with good work, democratic ownership, sustainability and ethical finance at its centre. We cannot go back to an economy and a society where zero-hours contracts, the undervaluation of essential work, and poverty pay is the norm.

If we want full employment, decent pay, security of employment, dignity in retirement, good housing, an end to child poverty, and a reversal of spiralling inequality then the state will have to take the lead.

But it will also require all people of goodwill to work together, not to divide but to unite, to join together in common endeavour. These are the values which have stood out in the lockdown. They are the values that will lead us to a better future.

Richard Leonard is leader of the Scottish Labour Party

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