(Rugby)
(Con)
What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting
job retention in Scotland during the covid-19 outbreak. [906960]
(Newport West) (Lab)
What estimate he has made of the number of self-employed people
in Scotland who have not received support from the Government’s
covid-19 financial support schemes. [906961]
(Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting
job retention in Scotland during the covid-19 outbreak. [906972]
The Secretary of State for Scotland ( )
I have regular discussions with my Cabinet colleagues, including
the Chancellor, on all aspects of how the UK Government continue
to support Scotland’s economy. The Chancellor recently announced
a package of measures that will continue to support jobs and help
businesses through the uncertain months ahead.
At the height of the biggest economic downturn this country has
seen in our lifetime, the UK Government stepped up and protected
nearly 1 million Scottish jobs through the job retention scheme
and the self-employment income support scheme. Does the Secretary
of State agree that those measures show that the UK Government
have done everything possible to support people’s livelihoods
across the entirety of the United Kingdom?
Mr Jack
Yes, I do. The might of the UK Treasury has supported all parts
of the United Kingdom, including Scotland.
[V]
I note that the Government’s latest package of measures for the
self-employed slashes their support from 70% of income to just
20%. And that is only for those who are eligible—many
self-employed people have not received any help at all from the
Chancellor. How many self-employed people in Scotland have fallen
through the financial safety net, and what is the Secretary of
State doing to help them?
Mr Jack
The hon. Lady will know that we have brought in a new set of
measures, as she said. There is the self-employed support scheme
and the new job retention scheme. We have made a cut in VAT for
the tourism and hospitality sector, and introduced the kickstart
scheme. The self-employed income support scheme was a broad
scheme. By definition, in a broad scheme it is inevitable that
some people will sadly miss out, but I would say that in Scotland
283,000 grants were given, which came to some £777 million of
support. The scheme now continues for another six months.
Many hard-working people in Hertford and Stortford are set to
benefit from the introduction of the job support scheme, offering
employers and workers a transition from furlough. Will my right
hon. Friend confirm that this job-saving measure will have the
same impact north of the border, and that Scotland shares in this
Government’s focus on jobs, jobs, jobs?
Mr Jack
Yes. The whole United Kingdom will benefit from all the measures
put in place by the Chancellor.
(Edinburgh South) (Lab) [V]
Businesses across Scotland, particularly in the hospitality,
tourism and culture sectors, are still closed or nowhere near
back to any sort of normality. With additional restrictions being
reintroduced as cases have rocketed in Scotland, things are only
going to get worse for those sectors. The high-profile case of
Cineworld is the latest in a very large number of hammer blows to
Scottish jobs. The Government do not seem to see that the health
and economic responses to covid are one and the same thing. What
message does the Secretary of State have for workers on the
precipice of losing their jobs and business owners on the verge
of losing their viable businesses, or is it simply the flippant
response, as the Chancellor said yesterday to the culture sector,
that they simply have to retrain and get new jobs?
Mr Jack
In this pandemic, the Chancellor has been very clear that he
cannot save every business and every job. The hon. Gentleman
mentions Cineworld. Independent cinemas were supported through
the culture fund to the tune of £97 million in Barnett money. As
I said, sadly we know we cannot save every business. Retraining
programmes and the kickstart scheme are being put in place, and
we have reduced VAT for hospitality, leisure and tourism to 5%.
To protect the Scottish economy, I encourage the Scottish
Government to make the restrictions coming forward as local as
possible.
[V]
I am grateful to the Secretary of State, but the reality on the
ground is that the Chancellor’s measures simply do not go far
enough to protect jobs. The employees and businesses in the
sectors hardest hit will need more support, and what they are
getting from the Chancellor’s announcement is less support.
Another area critical for jobs is the Scotch whisky industry.
This week marks one year since the United States announced a 25%
tariff on Scotch whisky. Figures from the Scotch Whisky
Association show that that has led to a devastating 32% drop in
US Scotch whisky exports, costing a massive £360 million. Given
the thousands of jobs in the industry that this supports, rather
than the Secretary of State just telling us that he will raise
the issue again with the International Trade Secretary, what is
he actually going to do to encourage the US to lift the tariffs
on Scotch whisky, or is this just another example of what his new
Scottish Conservative leader describes as the Tories not caring
about Scotland?
Mr Jack
The hon. Gentleman raises a very serious issue not just for the
whisky industry, but for biscuits and cashmere. I am pleased that
biscuits are now off the tariff carousel. The Boeing-Airbus
dispute has been many years in the making. It is unfair. It is
harmful to both industry and consumers. However, in the trade
talks that have opened up with the US, we have now got agreement
to have a bilateral discussion—in other words, not using the EU
negotiators anymore—with the US. The good news I can tell him is
that we have moved to a new phase. The Secretary of State for
International Trade this week is starting discussions to try to
resolve this problem.
(Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)
I very much welcome the fact that 11,000 or more of my
constituents have benefited from the furlough scheme. Covid is
changing our economy. We therefore need to focus on creating new
sustainable jobs. That is why it is even more important that we
press ahead in the south of Scotland with the borderlands growth
deal. Will my right hon. Friend agree that we need renewed
impetus into the deal, in particular into delivering the mountain
bike innovation centre of Scotland in Innerleithen?
Mr Jack
I thank my right hon. Friend for the invaluable work that he did
in bringing the borderlands growth deal to fruition. I am also
delighted to inform him that the business case for the mountain
bike innovation centre was delivered by the Borderlands
Partnership only yesterday. It obviously has to go through
further assessments in the usual way, but I am well aware of and
support the initiative, because mountain biking in what is a very
beautiful part of Scotland is an incredibly popular sport, and it
is locally a very popular initiative.
(Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (SNP) [V]
Knowing as we do the negative consequences that the delay to the
autumn Budget will have on the Scottish Parliament passing its
budget, will the Minister tell us if he made his Cabinet
colleagues and the Chancellor aware of these negative
consequences, or was he himself unaware?
Mr Jack
We have had one Budget this year in March. That was slightly
delayed and, at the time, the then Finance Secretary in Scotland,
, said that that was going to be disastrous for
Scotland and that it would be unable to set its budget, but that
was incorrect. The Finance Secretary was able to set her budget,
and the message goes out now from the Treasury, as it did then:
if she has any problems setting her budget, should come forward and talk to us.
Just to ask the Secretary of State again, because I did not hear
an answer in there: can he tell us if he made his Cabinet
colleagues aware of the negative consequences that would happen,
and what was the result of these conversations?
Mr Jack
I say to the hon. Lady that I do not agree that there are
negative consequences. The Chancellor and I have had discussions
on this matter. I make it quite clear that if has any questions on setting her budget, she should
come forward and ask us. The offer was made to when he made similar cry-wolf stories back in March,
when there was a delay, but no questions were asked and nothing
came forward because they had all the information they needed to
set their budget.
(Moray) (Con)
The Union connectivity review announced by the Prime Minister
will improve transport infrastructure across the country and
bring jobs and investment to Scotland. I assume that Scotland’s
two Governments will work together on this ambitious programme,
so will the Secretary of State outline what response there has
been from the Scottish Government so that the two Governments
work together to deliver jobs and progress right across the
country?
Mr Jack
The Union connectivity review, which is being led by Sir Peter
Hendy, who I met yesterday, is a really important initiative for
Scotland and the whole United Kingdom, and it will create very
exciting opportunities. However, I am concerned that Transport
Scotland has been told by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport,
Infrastructure and Connectivity, , not to engage with the review, and I urge Mr
Matheson to think again and to ensure that his officials take
part. It cannot be in Scotland’s interest for the SNP to play
politics with an issue that is so important to our economic
future.
(Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP) [V]
The Secretary of State says that the job retention scheme is a
great example of their Union, but according to his boss, the
ever-cheerful hon. Member for Moray (), the Westminster Tories are not interested in their
Union anymore. He says:
“The case for separation is…being made more effectively in London
than…in Edinburgh”.
Is his boss right? Are the Westminster Tories full of defeatism
about their Union? And if they do not care about their Union, why
on earth should the Scottish people?
Mr Jack
First, the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives cares deeply
about the Union, and that is something that we cannot say for the
Scottish nationalist party. But I would go further: he was making
the very clear point that Westminster should not devolve and
forget. Huge sums of money and support go to Scotland and other
parts of the United Kingdom, and he was just pointing out that
Departments in Whitehall should stay focused, stay connected and
follow up on those funds.
(Angus) (SNP)
The Secretary of State and his colleagues are given to
chest-beating about the tremendous amount of revenue flowing to
Scotland to get us through the pandemic—every penny of it, of
course, borrowed. Will he tell me and the people of Scotland why
those borrowing decisions are better made here than they would be
by the people of Scotland in Scotland, and why we are habitually
brow-beaten into being grateful for a service that we never asked
for?
Mr Jack
The simple reason is that not only do we have a strong Bank of
England underpinning a strong currency, in the pound, but we are
one country with one currency and because we have a strong
economy, we are able to borrow money at much better rates.
