Susan Aitken

GLASGOW is a city with an international reputation, several high-growth industries and a highly-skilled workforce, all of which put the city in a great position to thrive and grow.

To fully capitalise on our fundamental strengths, we need every level of government to focus relentlessly on creating the conditions for fair and inclusive growth; for too long Glasgow City Council has lagged behind, offering outdated 20th century solutions for complex 21st century problems.

The thinking has been muddled, the solutions ill-considered and the result is an economy that could be so much better, so much more productive and so much fairer for our people and our city.

Glasgow’s economic development is under the stewardship of the advisory Glasgow Economic Leadership board, which has brought together some welcome expertise and guidance.

The SNP’s view is that it’s time to build on those strengths to create a more ambitious economic model for our city, one that brings together the key players in our economy; draws on best practice and innovation from other parts of the UK and right across the world; and puts the city in pole position to capitalise on the industries of the future such as precision medicine, life sciences, quantum technologies, and zero carbon innovations. We need a new and better system fit for an increasingly complex and competitive international economy to empower our city, our citizens and our industry to make it thrive.

This would be necessary even without the uncertain impact of Brexit but that has sharpened our focus.

Decisive action is needed to ensure Glasgow is equipped not just to navigate Brexit but to lay the foundations for an inclusive, engaged and innovative economy.

Our plans for the Glasgow Partnership for Economic Growth (GPEG) are the first step on the road to achieving that.

Having undertaken a wide-ranging analysis of similar cities in the UK and internationally, we have identified five key themes that will run through our plans for change.

It’s important that our new economic leadership model is hands-on, playing a direct role in the delivery of economic development policy and business support in line with successful models in place in comparable cities across the world.

It will also be “whole of government”, able to liaise directly with local, national, UK and European institutions, and helping to facilitate businesses within the city to do the same. From our international comparisons, it seems clear that economic development works best when all staff are under one roof and working in a joined-up fashion to a single strategy.

We need to simplify the present process, which sees council economic development staff disparately spread over a number of departments with a resulting lack of focus.

It’s also important that GPEG is policy-focused, playing a crucial role in identifying problems limiting growth in Glasgow and developing policy solutions to take to the relevant level of government.

Everything the new model does will be evidence-led, learning from the success of similar models in other cities, making use of expert data and analysis and ensuring all strategies and policies are based on the best possible evidence.

The last thing Glasgow needs is another talking shop operating behind closed doors with ill-defined priorities and no measures of success.

The SNP’s transformational plans will see economic development in the city operate to identifiable targets and with clearly defined goals.

With that in mind, GPEG will be responsible for plans to set up three dedicated hubs to support growth: the Glasgow Investment Hub which will draw in and support foreign investment; the Glasgow Business Support Hub to provide strategic advice and direct support to businesses; and the Glasgow Skills Hub, which will work in partnership with the private sector, schools, colleges and universities to ensure that the city has the skillset needed to succeed.

Glasgow should be in the vanguard of economic progress. Unless the city takes a step up in the way we do economic leadership, there is a risk that we will be left trailing in the wake of those cities that are providing better, more-joined up and more direct support to businesses and that draw in considerable outside investment.

There should be no limits on Glasgow’s aspirations. Our proposals for the Glasgow Partnership for Economic Growth will see the city council deliver the type of support that has been lacking for too long and that will allow our city to capitalise on the industries of the future to thrive in the 21st century economy.

Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, SNP group