Swinney seeks infrastructure cash

Nov 8 2012

Finance Secretary John Swinney has demanded urgent measures from the UK Government to boost economic confidence.

Mr Swinney used a meeting of finance ministers from across the UK to again make the plea for more money to be spent on major infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy.

He said the Treasury should "provide an immediate capital stimulus to boost economic activity and support wider investor confidence. An extra £5 billion in capital investment across the UK would allow us to provide an additional stimulus of more than £400 million to support employment in Scotland now."

He made the point to UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Scottish Secretary Michael Moore at the finance quadrilateral meeting in Edinburgh. Representatives from the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland were also at the discussions.

Chancellor George Osborne will make his autumn statement next month, but Mr Swinney argued: "A swift decision by the UK Government to increase capital investment to support jobs, construction and new infrastructure could deliver a real boost to all of our economies."

Even though the UK economy came out of recession in the third quarter of the year, the "overall picture remains one of a continued fragile recovery with forecasts for next year having been revised down consistently in recent months", Mr Swinney said.

In these circumstances, boosting capital investment to help support growth is "widely supported", he added. "It is imperative that the Chancellor uses his autumn statement to respond to the current troubling economic situation and introduce urgent measures to restore confidence."

A Scotland Office spokesman said: "There is nothing to stop the Scottish Government delivering investment in Scotland with the powers it currently has."

The Scottish Government has received more than £1 billion in additional funding since the 2010 spending review, with £730 million of that earmarked for capital spending, he insisted.

"That more than covers the £400 million stimulus they are seeking," he added. "It is for them to explain why they have not used it for additional capital spending."