Brian Taylor: Other than independence, just what are the SNP’s big ideas on the economy?

Why was the former chief executive at the yard rewarded so handsomely? Rather neat of Anas Sarwar to make the comparison with the largesse doled out to football mega-stars.

Above all, when might the order be completed? When might Scotland’s island communities receive an enhancement to the fleet upon which they rely so totally?

All good questions. Nicola Sturgeon voiced her disquiet but drew ready applause from her supporters by declaring that her government’s actions had saved jobs and preserved the yard, albeit at a cost.

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Once again, legitimate questions. However, I have another question lurking in my mind. How did we get to this state? That the Clyde, which once launched the Cunard Queens, cannot complete a ferry.

I know, I know, different times, different ships, different challenges, different bank of the Clyde, even.

But still we witness endless problems with a maritime order on the estuary which once provided a substantial chunk of the entire world’s shipping.

What a falling off is there. What an embarrassment. What a disgrace.

If you will permit a personal touch, I remember when shipbuilding retained a significant profile in Scotland, and not just on the Clyde.

Members of my extended family worked at the Caledon yard in Dundee. When I lived in Aberdeen, my flat overlooked the harbour, including the Hall Russell shipyard.

In the earlier part of my career as a journalist, I covered the decline and fall of the industry, the valiant attempts to save various yards.

I acknowledge that there remains a substantial and welcome naval shipbuilding presence in Scotland. I know that our shipyards steadily fell behind in global competitiveness.

Which brings me back to that core question. What is the nature of our economy? How is growth to be stimulated, always presuming that remains the objective, which some, such as the Greens, question?

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This week, the Finance Secretary Kate Forbes offered a few questions and answers of her own at an industry roundtable which rejoiced in the ambitious title, “Embedding Entrepreneurialism”.

Ms Forbes said her aim was “to establish Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation, with a culture that encourages, promotes, and celebrates entrepreneurial activity in every sector of our economy.”

This was in keeping with her recently issued economic strategy, which also had a sharp focus upon entrepreneurs.

At the seminar this week, she expanded upon this, stressing the need to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit in education, in industry and in wider society.

The aim, it was stated, was to create “a high intensity pathway for high growth companies”. No, me neither. But it sounds bold and perhaps it will work out well in practice.

But what is the ideological and policy framework within the Scottish Government to underpin this strategy?

The entrepreneurs who built Clyde shipbuilding into a globally-renowned industry needed drive, a skilled workforce, available markets – and regular dredging of the river. They needed government to assist or, more precisely, to avoid placing obstacles in their way.

Ditto today. If we are to rely upon entrepreneurs – the stated aim of Nicola Sturgeon’s government – then we will need a supportive political framework.

Again, though, what is the over-arching ideological basis for this entrepreneurial drive? I would struggle to pin a label on this Scottish Government.

Perhaps that is in the nature of Nationalist politics. They have an objective. They have a very firm ideology. It is the pursuit of independence, allied to the advancement of Scottish interests in the meantime.

Particularly since the creation of the Scottish Parliament, the SNP have been determined to be much more than a protest movement.

Instead of endless conflict with London, they have regularly sought to govern consensually and within the ambit of devolved powers. The strategy being to invite voters to consider how much more they could do with the full clout of independence.

However, it can be all too tempting to resort to complaints when the going gets tough. Which provides an all too handy safety valve for a Minister facing tough questions.

But what is the broader economic and political ideology? By definition, the SNP attracts individuals with one shared aim: independence. They might be, otherwise, of the Right or the Left.

In its earliest days, the movement tended to eschew other ideological standpoints to some extent, focusing solely upon independence. But they changed. As Alex Salmond put it, they started to make choices within Scotland, rather than simply choosing Scotland.

They were, then, broadly – I stress, broadly – of the centre Left. In keeping with what they saw as the Scottish consensus.

But where are they on big economic choices? Their revised strategy favours growth, most particularly through private enterprise. Yet they have now taken Scotrail into public ownership. It is to be hoped it will be more successful than Ferguson shipyard, also nationalised.

What of taxation? It used to be SNP policy to cut Corporation Tax, once that power was obtained, in order to stimulate economic growth.

But that policy has been dumped while the income tax strategy is designed to favour those on lower incomes. Again, a clear case can be made for that, in terms of equity and common humanity. But where does it sit on the spectrum of driving enterprise?

Energy, then. No to nuclear and yes to renewables. But Nicola Sturgeon still sounds awkward on oil and gas, as she did this week when former Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing suggested that Scotland could assist the planet by continuing to develop an alternative to Russian hydrocarbons – and could sustain transferable Scottish skills in the by-going.

To be clear, the broader economic statistics are currently dreadful, affected as they are by war, pestilence, energy prices and underlying instability dating back to the 2008 crash. Brexit has not helped, according to a new report from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility.

Perhaps Scottish Ministers would defend variable pragmatism, given that uncertainty. We can only hope so.

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