Leader: There is much Scotland can do without a UK jobs ‘summit’

The second is to the notion, cultivated by the SNP administration throughout the year, of a Scottish exceptionalism: that the SNP’s “Plan MacB” was working to shield Scotland from the full blast of the downturn.

The hope was that, through this, the economy here would avoid recession. This now looks increasingly unlikely. And the administration’s defence has visibly crumbled with the rise in the unemployment rate to a level higher than that of the UK as a whole. Now, with the realisation of the scale and depth of the economic challenge Scotland confronts, Alex Salmond has put his unilateralist, “Scotland alone” approach into reverse, demanding an “urgent” UK-wide jobs summit.

No-one doubts the scale of the challenge faced across the UK in getting the economy back to growth. And few would dispute the SNP’s determination to move ahead on infrastructure projects here. To this extent the First Minister’s response is wholly fitting. But such a UK-wide summit has long been under way. It goes by the name of the UK parliament at Westminster.

The coalition government may be open to a charge of insufficiency. But it cannot fairly be accused of being idle. Last month’s Autumn Statement was almost entirely preoccupied with measures to encourage investment and job-boosting growth against the backdrop of a confidence-sapping sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone.

It set out how capital spending projects and business-boosting measures could be deployed that did not further add to a crippling deficit and debt burden. It introduced plans to help stimulate bank lending to small firms and mobilise private sector pension funds for big infrastructure projects. It also confirmed plans for continuing cuts in corporation tax.

The SNP denounced it at the time, insisting on the superiority of its own approach. Now, with unemployment higher in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, Mr Salmond calls for a summit with the Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, having subjected them to a barrage of criticism. It would demonstrate great forbearance on their part to agree to a summit without some assurance that such an event would not be used as the occasion for more political grandstanding.

The fact is that the single biggest obstacle to a return of business and household confidence is the unresolved eurozone crisis and the recession this is now inflicting across all of Europe.

And daunting though the outlook is, there is enough for the administration to do here to help small business, to streamline planning and ensure maximum efficiency in public sector spending. Summit calls are one thing. Action on the ground is what matters.