Warning Scotland’s economy could ‘take a decade to recover’

Scotland’s economy could take up to a decade to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to leading Scots entrepreneur Jim McColl.

Shoppers wearing face masks in Glasgow.

And he raised fears Holyrood ministers lack the business knowledge to chart a pathway to economic recovery.

McColl is a former member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers, but fell out with SNP ministers in a dispute over the contract to build two ferries at the Ferguson shipyard which he had rescued. The row saw the yard eventually taken over by the Scottish Government.

Asked how long the economic recovery from the pandemic would take, McColl said: “I think it’s going to be a long time – it could be seven to ten years, but businesses will need support during that period. More support than they are getting just now.”

Jim McColl

He added: “We could lose half of our small and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland without help.

“These businesses will need longer-term help.

“I don’t think they need handouts. I think what they do need is long-term loans, maybe 25-year loans that they can repay over a period of time.

“I don’t think we need to be handing out grants or subsidising them.”

McColl also backed criticism of ministers at Holyrood and Westminster over their lack of business knowledge.

“I think much of that criticism is valid - maybe more so in Scotland,” he said.

“There’s not the same background in business in the Scottish Government. You have one or two in Westminster. There is maybe more of an understanding there, so it could do with more input from the private sector.”

The magnate said politicians in Scotland come from a wider background.

“There are too many career politicians now,” he added.

“I think in the past, way back in the past, people would come from doing a job or private sector into politics. But I do think we need to widen it in some way.”

Scottish Conservative economy spokesman Dean Lockhart accused the Scottish Government of an “anti-economy” agenda.

He said: “This SNP government’s lack of business understanding has been highlighted severely during the Covid crisis.

“The SNP’s economic response to the Covid crisis has been roundly criticised as incompetent, weak and slow.

“Throughout this pandemic firms in Scotland have received less financial support than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. This will simply result in even more job losses here in Scotland directly as a result of the SNP’s incompetence.

“The SNP must set aside their anti-economy agenda or even more Scottish jobs will be lost.”

But Scotland’s Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop insisted yesterday that the Scottish Government has made more than £2.3 billion available in business support and implemented a £230 million economic stimulus package to “create jobs in construction, low carbon schemes and digitisation”.

A £38m fund for “high growth companies” has also been unveiled, Ms Hyslop said, while £100m was made available last week for employment support and training.