<\/p>\n
Sir Tom Hunter: addresses CBI lunch<\/p>\n
First Minister John Swinney will face a robust challenge from entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter today as the pair address business leaders in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n
Mr Swinney is expected to tell the CBI Scotland annual lunch that \u201cgrowing our economy\u201d is among his list of \u201cpeople\u2019s priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Sir Tom, who will also address guests, has been a vocal critic of politicians who fail to recognise the damaging impact of their actions on business.<\/p>\n
He has called for a change of approach towards tax, regulation and other burdens on business, saying they are holding back growth and putting companies into distress. He has offered to form a group of leading figures to advise on government policy.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued the day after the Scottish elections, he said: \u201cAfter nineteen years of stagnation at best, and decline in health, education and the economy at worst \u2026 it\u2019s time for radical thinking. More of the same will offer an appalling legacy to our children so are our politicians up for it?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy offer is to deliver a business council to support them \u2013 a council of exceptional talents; Scotland first, politics second.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michelle Ferguson, director of CBI Scotland, shared Sir Tom\u2019s frustration and repeated calls for a focus on growth. <\/p>\n
Claiming the country was in \u201ca race against time\u201d, she issued a five-point plan to reform business rates and\u00a0planning, deliver a national skills strategy, close the\u00a0tax\u00a0and regulatory gap with the rest of the UK, and commit to transformative infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n
Michelle Ferguson: race against time<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowth really\u202fis the\u202f\u2018only game in town\u2019 \u2013 so it\u2019s\u202ftime\u202fto\u202froll up our sleeves and\u202fget on with\u202fit,\u201d she said in a pre-lunch briefing note.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means using every lever available to boost productivity and unlock vital investment.\u202fBusiness stands ready to play its part, but urgency is key. We can\u2019t afford to sit on our hands, or we risk a worsening fiscal position and the potential for great commercial opportunities to slip through our fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n
SSE\u00a0chief executive and\u00a0CBI Scotland Chair,\u00a0Martin Pibworth, will also address the lunch.<\/p>\n
Mr Swinney will chair the first meeting of his new Cabinet today said he will \u201ctask my ministerial colleagues with delivering on the priorities of the people of Scotland, after the emphatic mandate given to us at the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ministerial team I have appointed will be\u00a0focused on and\u00a0responsive to the challenges facing\u00a0communities\u00a0across the country. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat means supporting families through the current\u00a0cost of living\u00a0crisis, continuing to deliver improvements in our NHS, and growing our economy \u2013 all of which will require a concerted effort by the entire government working together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t #Hunter #challenge #Swinney #SNP #growth #plan #Daily #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sir Tom Hunter: addresses CBI lunch First Minister John Swinney will face a robust challenge…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[272,12731,4032,306,1737,9689,3049,12732,154,11464,3892,3054],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}