Scottish manufacturers would benefit from returning the European Union to its free-market origins, the new head of the industry group Scottish Engineering has said.
In his first intervention on public policy since assuming leadership of the 350-member body at the start of the year, Bryan Buchan criticised the "evolution" of the original EU, and the "expansion of multiple layers of bureaucracy producing legislation which is counter-productive and inhibits business growth".
A former managing director of US optical giant Bausch & Lomb's Livingston plant, Buchan warned withdrawal from the EU, an option Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to include in a referendum, would damage Scots business.
Buchan said: "It would certainly be extremely detrimental to Scottish companies to have such free access to European markets cut off."
However, he effectively backed the PM's strategy of trying to win back control of social legislation. "The points currently being made in relation to the evolution of the European Union from its origins as a free market are very valid," he said.
Buchan suggested manufacturers in other countries were more able to get around social legislation.
He cited an alleged Dutch practice of designating all staff as "autonomous decision makers" exempting them from working restrictions, and an alleged Danish practice of sub-dividing employment contracts so restrictions on workers' time are multiplied by separate "jobs".
Buchan also said the time-frame of the EU vote is a layer of uncertainty on top of that caused by the impending independence referendum.
"Manufacturing and engineering, by their natures, require some degree of stability in order to plan ahead in terms of raw materials, capital equipment and personnel. It's quite simple. Uncertainty inhibits investment," he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article