Finance minister under attack for deal with 'anti-business' Scottish Greens

Kate Forbes defended the Scottish Government as “pro-business and pro-prosperity” as the coalition deal with the Scottish Greens came under attack from opposition MSPs, with Conservatives claiming it would damage Scotland’s economy.

The finance minister sought to emphasise the Scottish Government's business-friendly credentials – despite the role of GDP measurements and the concepts of sustainable growth being explicitly excluded from the SNP-Green co-operation agreement signed last month.

In the second day of debate on the government’s legislative programme for the year ahead at Holyrood, Ms Forbes was keen to stress the need to stimulate economic growth in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

However, the Scottish Conservatives said the SNP and the Scottish Greens had conflicting views on the role of business and economic growth.

Kate Forbes told MSPs the government was "pro-business" despite being accused of going into coalition with "anti-business" Greens.

The party’s economy spokeswoman Liz Smith said GDP and GNP remained the “most important internationally recognised measures” and added “why on Earth do you go into coalition with a party that is fundamentally opposed to [growth] as a priority?

“That will be a tension that will continue to dominate the coalition for however long that lasts."

She added: “I’m afraid when it comes to the Greens it really is the Greens against the business world and I wonder where the SNP really is coming from on this? It’s not that long ago when the SNP was agreeing with the business world.”

Ms Smith also referred to comments made by Professor Mark Blyth, one of the Scottish Government's economic advisors and a known supporter of Scottish independence.

She said: "He's warning that independence upheaval will be 'Brexit times ten’. I think that view is shared by a lot in the Scottish business community and indeed the public.”

Scottish Labour's finance spokesman Daniel Johnson claimed the Scottish Government was more comfortable with “a constitutional circus than the seriousness demanded by economic recovery.”

He went on to question the impact the Scottish Greens can have on policy as a result of their deal with the SNP, which saw co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater given ministerial office, by pointing to reports on Wednesday that plans for a public energy company had been dropped.

"It's clear that any influence the Greens could have had has been sold out for ministerial job titles without any ministerial influence," he said.

Lib Dem finance spokesman and former leader Willie Rennie said the Scottish economy was under incredible pressure from the pandemic, climate change reforms and Brexit.

"It's going to take a long time to recover from this pandemic, I think it would be reckless to pursue independence in the process,” he said.

“The extremes of the SNP and the Tories and on the constitution and the Conservatives and Greens on the economy don’t help us move forward.”

However, Ms Forbes said the government wanted to “create a pro-prosperity, pro-business and pro-jobs environment, which fosters entrepreneurship and makes Scotland an even more attractive place for investors”.

She said: “We can stimulate business growth by investing in our people and expanding opportunities, and we can also do it with well-paid, fair jobs, fast securing a just transition to net-zero.”

Ms Forbes said the government was due to publish a ten-year plan for economic transformation in late autumn.

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