DOUGLAS Ross will unveil his proposals to restart Scotland’s economy - focusing on a transport and infrastructure investment.
The Scottish Conservatives leader will call for a new UK and Scottish government joint investment strategy, expanding on the success of city growth deals.
On Tuesday, Nicola Sturgeon will reveal her Programme for Government – drawn up amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The First Minister will outline the legislation the Scottish Government will table before next May’s Holyrood election and she has committed to deliver “a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland for everyone".
On Monday, Mr Ross will outline his strategy to increase employment and bolster the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown.
As part of Mr Ross’s leadership campaign following the resignation of Jackson Carlaw last month, he promised to focus on delivering a major jobs plan within his first month of seizing control of the party.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson facing Covid-19 backlash from Tory MPs as Labour level in new poll
The Scottish Tories have proposed a fully integrated transport system with an Oyster card-like payment for travel, a three-lane M8 and faster rail links between Edinburgh and Glasgow – as well as quicker journey times from Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness.
Mr Ross has also touted the creation of a “Scottish dynamo” to compete with the Northern Powerhouse in north west England – to harness investment north of the Border.
He said: The Programme for Government this week must focus on how we recover from this crisis, protect jobs and rebuild Scotland’s economy from the brink.
“It should be a programme to invest in infrastructure and connect communities across the country, leaving nowhere behind.
“Scotland has been too divided for too long, not only constitutionally but economically too. We need a massive acceleration of infrastructure projects to bring people across Scotland closer together.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon reveals radical new plan for recovery from Covid
Mr Ross’s plans also include setting up a tourism infrastructure fund in an attempt to improve travel for tourists and protect local roads in rural Scotland outside the central belt.
He added: “These proposals would better connect businesses across the country and boost productivity, delivering more money for public services and bringing more high-quality jobs to towns and cities that often get overlooked in favour of Edinburgh.
“We need to take power back from the government in Edinburgh and put power in the hands of people and communities across Scotland. We can do that by making it just as easy and attractive for a business to set up in Inverness as in Glasgow.
“We need a long-term strategic vision but it must begin now. We cannot wait any longer to plan a stronger Scottish economy. With both our governments pulling together, Scotland can build back better.”
The SNP has criticised the "empty rhetoric" and has called on Mr Ross to instead demand Boris Johnson thinks again about his decision to withdraw the furlough scheme in October.
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: “The First Minister will put Scotland’s health and economic recovery from Covid-19 at the heart of the Programme for Government this week. In the meantime, Douglas Ross’s empty rhetoric gets us nowhere.
“The most useful thing the Scottish Tory leader could do is lobby his Westminster bosses to extend the furlough scheme before the loss of up to 200,000 Scottish jobs, demand a vital package of support for the millions of forgotten freelancers who have yet to receive a penny in support from the UK government and get behind SNP calls for support to those are forced to rely on UK welfare benefits.
“Or he could focus his attention on getting the UK Treasury to put its hand in the coffers and protect the Scottish economy from the impending disastrous impact of a Brexit future that Scotland didn’t vote for.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel