{"id":38870,"date":"2017-10-05T14:44:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T13:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=38870"},"modified":"2017-10-05T17:36:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T16:36:47","slug":"a-new-deal-for-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2017\/10\/05\/a-new-deal-for-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Deal for Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I spoke at the \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cosla.gov.uk\/about\/about-cosla\/our-approach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">COSLA\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0conference this afternoon. COSLA represents local authorities in Scotland. This was my second visit to their conference. \u00a0It was good to be invited back.<\/p>\n<p>I emphasised during my presentation that in my opinion Scotland needed a cross-party New Deal to ensure it can face the challenges coming its way, with or without independence. There were my speaking notes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The challenge\n<ul>\n<li>Scotland is at a crossroads<\/li>\n<li>Devolved with some economic powers<\/li>\n<li>Debating its own future<\/li>\n<li>If GERS is to be believed running a strong deficit<\/li>\n<li>If trade is to be believed in a good place<\/li>\n<li>And I would say sitting on all the fundamental assets that make a modern economy\n<ul>\n<li>People<\/li>\n<li>Education<\/li>\n<li>Energy<\/li>\n<li>Enterprise<\/li>\n<li>Identity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The reality\n<ul>\n<li>There's a crisis coming<\/li>\n<li>Externally\n<ul>\n<li>Brexit<\/li>\n<li>A tottering world economy<\/li>\n<li>A world without a plan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Domestically\n<ul>\n<li>An economy constrained by Westminster and the South East<\/li>\n<li>In need of a plan of its own<\/li>\n<li>And having to address the real issue that faces Scotland - that people in the country just don't earn enough because not enough has been invested in productivity in its economy<\/li>\n<li>That's the beginning and the end of the Scottish economic crisis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>There is \u00e2\u201a\u00ac33 trillion saved in cash in the world right now (Allianz Global Wealth Report)\n<ul>\n<li>As they say, this is because the owners of that cash don't trust the financial products available to them in the market<\/li>\n<li>These people would rather lose money holding cash then invest it in financial products<\/li>\n<li>If you want the surest sign of the failure of current capitalism then this is it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>At the same time Scotland is crying out for investment\n<ul>\n<li>To replace PFI<\/li>\n<li>To fund new infrastructure investment e.g. rail infrastructure<\/li>\n<li>To build new social housing<\/li>\n<li>To create the renewable energy infrastructure for the country<\/li>\n<li>To insulate existing housing stock<\/li>\n<li>Whatever you want to add to the list<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The question is how can that wall money that can't find a home end up invested in Scotland<\/li>\n<li>First it needs a policy\n<ul>\n<li>To clear PFI<\/li>\n<li>To create investment opportunities\n<ul>\n<li>Of any of the types noted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>To create a structure for investment\n<ul>\n<li>Like an infrastructure bank<\/li>\n<li>Nationally<\/li>\n<li>Or regionally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>And then it needs a financing mechanism\n<ul>\n<li>Like local authority bonds<\/li>\n<li>Or national bonds<\/li>\n<li>At low rates of interest<\/li>\n<li>Backed up by government guarantee<\/li>\n<li>And People's QE if necessary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>And some incentives \/ sticks\n<ul>\n<li>Like a requirement that pension funds invest 20% of all their new member contributions in investments that deliver new jobs and technology within the UK<\/li>\n<li>And the reduction of ISA incentives for useless cash and share based investments that deliver not a penny of new investment into the economy<\/li>\n<li>And instead to have tax relief solely for new technology \/ green \/ job creation \/ social housing and infrastructure funds so that tax policy aligns with social need<\/li>\n<li>Plus local accountability for the funds invested in this way - and yes, that includes a role for councils<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>And the backstop is People's QE\n<ul>\n<li>Where, if need be, the government's buys the bonds issued by projects to ensure that they have sufficient support to achieve their goals<\/li>\n<li>We have done \u00a3435 billion of QE to bail out banks and inflate asset prices in the South East of England. No inflation followed.<\/li>\n<li>People's QE is the weapon left to deal with the next downturn.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2015\/03\/12\/how-green-infrastructure-quantitative-easing-would-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en-GB&amp;q=http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2015\/03\/12\/how-green-infrastructure-quantitative-easing-would-work\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1507034265881000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-Z6AQrWlMRf4Jh7W6U05lFSVYpA\">http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/<wbr \/>Blog\/2015\/03\/12\/how-green-<wbr \/>infrastructure-quantitative-<wbr \/>easing-would-work\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The political assumptions in this\n<ul>\n<li>I am assuming Brexit because I think we have to<\/li>\n<li>I am assuming that there is a broad cross party consensus on the need for investment in Scotland - even though I know there will be difference on the detail<\/li>\n<li>I am assuming that there is a willingness to create real economic powers for devolved and local government involvement in Scottish economic development<\/li>\n<li>I am assuming Scottish parties will be willing to work together on a New Deal for Scotland on the basis of the threat Brexit and the economic crash it will create will bring to you<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The political realities of this\n<ul>\n<li>I know how massive my assumptions are<\/li>\n<li>But as someone who's not a Scot and not a party politician I'll say that this scale of vision is what the people of Scotland do, I am sure, expect of you<\/li>\n<li>I want Scotland to grasp its own economic future - devolved or independent - and whichever party is in government here or in Westminster - and I can't see how it is going to face the post Brexit world without a plan like this<\/li>\n<li>I'd suggest it falls to you to deliver it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>There is a need for a New Deal for Scotland\n<ul>\n<li>I'd suggest that together you can make it happen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I spoke at the \u00a0COSLA\u00a0\u00a0conference this afternoon. COSLA represents local authorities in Scotland. This was my second visit to their conference. \u00a0It was good to<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2017\/10\/05\/a-new-deal-for-scotland\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,74,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-green-new-deal","category-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}