THE idea of Glasgow returning to a public health crisis like the one caused by the economic troubles of the 1980s and 1990s is “horrendous”, a business leader has warned amid the fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic.
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick claims there is an implication, from what he sees as a central Scottish Government message that an economy can be recovered but lives cannot, that businesses do not care about the current public health crisis.
In an interview with The Herald, Mr Patrick said: “I get the argument up in Scotland of, ‘We can always recover an economy. You can’t recover lives.’. I find that a particularly irritating stance from the Scottish Government because it implies businesses don’t care about the public health crisis.”
He highlighted the deep awareness of himself and others of “what a chronic public health crisis means for a city like Glasgow”.
Mr Patrick cited the “chronic public health crisis that came out of an economic crisis in the eighties and nineties”.
He added: “The idea we might have to go back to that is horrendous. We still haven’t solved the public health crisis from the eighties and nineties.”
Mr Patrick flagged his belief that, from a Glasgow perspective, the Centre for Population Health had “explained very well the challenges of a long-term public health crisis”.
Looking back at the fall-out from the troubles of the 1980s and 1990s, he highlighted “endemic poverty and the dislocation of so many communities” from the economic engine of the Glasgow city region.
Mr Patrick highlighted the fact that, in the current crisis, young people had so far been hit hardest by unemployment, given the lack of new job opportunities amid the pandemic.
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He said: “The big challenge has been youth unemployment.”
Declaring the chamber was agnostic about where crucial support on this front came from, and noting the UK Government’s Kickstart programme, the Scottish Government’s Youth Guarantee and Glasgow City Council’s own scheme in this area, Mr Patrick said: “We don’t want to have maybe two years’ worth of young talent coming out of the educational institutions and not able to get access to the labour market and ending up frankly in the pool of unemployment and adding to the challenges.”
He highlighted as a key issue on the unemployment front “the extent to which it becomes spread among the generations after the job retention scheme comes to an end”.
Mr Patrick added: “That hinges on how quickly the economy reopens and that hinges on how quickly the vaccine is distributed.”
He also took issue amid the coronavirus crisis with what he sees as a view at a UK Government level that “a few sectors might get shaken out”. He highlighted the difficulties faced by the transport sector, including aviation, and by the likes of bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and tourism businesses, while emphasising these troubles have arisen not because of changing market forces but as a result of government intervention to tackle the pandemic.
Underlining the need for such sectors to receive adequate support until they were able to return to normal trading, he declared: “We know large sections of that consumption economy will get back.”
Mr Patrick expressed hope for the future given Glasgow’s asset base, and highlighted his confidence in the city’s ability to recover, taking a medium to long-term perspective.
He flagged immediate challenges for the city’s retail sector triggered by the pandemic, and for Glasgow Airport, highlighting the importance of working to ensure crucial connectivity in terms of flights.
However, Mr Patrick emphasised the strength of Glasgow’s skills base, which he believed would continue to attract major employers.
He flagged the city’s strong position in terms of its proportion of highly skilled people, in a European context.
Mr Patrick also pointed to the major work being done by the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde on developing innovation districts in the city.
He noted these developments had continued through the pandemic, affected only by a pause in construction activity during the initial lockdown.
The University of Glasgow is driving innovation in areas including healthcare. Among the areas in which the University of Strathclyde is driving innovation is quantum technologies.
Mr Patrick highlighted the role played by the innovation districts in “using technology to solve problems”.
He underlined his faith in the ability of Glasgow to play a major part in the inevitable artificial intelligence revolution.
Citing “the inevitability of the march towards artificial intelligence”, Mr Patrick said: “Glasgow is in a good place to be a really strong part of that.”
The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief also voiced his confidence that the Scottish Event Campus, which includes The SSE Hydro, would bounce back from the effects of the pandemic and once again play a crucial role in the city’s economy.
He flagged the importance to the city of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference coming to Glasgow in November next year.
Asked about the UK’s impending departure from the European single market on December 31, Mr Patrick replied: “One of the challenges here is that Brexit is likely to damage the manufacturing economy. That has been recovering quietly and steadily, with some exceptions to that rule, while the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating the consumption economy.”
He underlined the strength of the partnership between the city’s business community, Glasgow City Council and Glasgow’s academic institutions, highlighting the importance of this to building the economy.
Mr Patrick said: “That is another part of the reason I am quite confident about the future for Glasgow. I would encourage as much devolution of powers and resources to the local level [as possible].”
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