Indyref: Competing Claims on Finance

The Scottish government are outlining their vision for jobs growth in an independent Scotland, as Tory freedom of information requests cast doubt over separate SNP projections.

A ten-point plan to create jobs in an independent Scotland is being published by the Scottish government.

It argues that control of economic and tax policy - and bringing sectors together - can build on Scotland’s strengths and create more and better job opportunities.

The Scottish Government has previously set out how improvements in productivity, employment and population could lead to additional tax revenues of £5 billion a year by 2029-30.

The jobs plan will contribute to that increase by:

• Creating an education and training environment to equip our young people to fulfil their potential, with a target of 30,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts per year by 2020;
• Controlling the tax system to provide incentives for companies to base their operations and headquarters in Scotland and create jobs. A three per cent cut in the headline corporation tax rate, in part to resist the gravitational pull of London, could boost employment by 27,000 jobs; 
• Using employment policy to bring together employers and unions to boost workforce participation, skills and productivity, in place of the UK Government’s confrontational approach. Boosting productivity by just 1 per cent could increase employment in Scotland by 21,000 jobs over the long term;
• Tailoring policy to boost key job-creating sectors in which Scotland has an international comparative advantage, such as renewable energy;
• Reindustrialising Scotland with a focus on strengthening manufacturing, promoting innovation and encouraging international trade and development;
• Boosting infrastructure and transport by establishing a rule which sets a minimum level for public sector capital spending as a percentage of GDP;
• Establishing a Scottish Business Development Bank as part of a strategy to improve access to finance for growth companies;
• Using a new overseas network of 70-90 embassies dedicated to boosting Scottish international exports. In the long-run a 50 per cent increase in exports could increase employment by over 100,000;
• Increasing opportunities for parents of young families to participate in the labour market by expanding childcare. 
• Tailoring immigration policy to retain talented overseas students who want to contribute to the Scottish economy.

Meanwhile, the executive's admitted that previous claims it could attract an extra 5 billion pounds a year to an independent Scotland’'s economy weren't based on detailed evidence.

That's after a series of freedom of information requests by the Scottish Conservatives weren't answered until the party appealed.

Gavin Brown is the Tory finance spokesman: