Our action to protect Scotland’s economy post-Brexit

The SNP Scottish government has announced a package of measures to stimulate Scotland’s economy following the result of the EU referendum.

Action includes bringing forward government spending on infrastructure and providing fresh support for businesses.

Here’s what you need to know.

An additional £100 million of capital spending will be brought forward this year.

This will be in addition to planned capital spending for 2015-16 and will include spending in health and other key infrastructure sectors. A full breakdown of the spending can be found in the Programme for Government here.

Projects worth almost £6 billion are already under construction as part of the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan.

A new Scottish Growth Scheme will provide up to £500 million over three years to help businesses grow.

The scheme will offer investment guarantees and some loans to eligible businesses, focussed on start-up companies who have the potential to grow and export more.

The approval of European Structural Funds will mean that £650 million in investment will be delivered for communities and businesses across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has worked to speed up the approval process for EU funding to ensure it reaches the people, communities and businesses that need it most. Funding will support projects to tackle inequality, grow our economy and create jobs. 

A new Business Information Service will be launched to provide support and reassurance to businesses in Scotland.

This service will be a single point of contact for individual businesses to provide up-to-date information, answer questions and address business concerns about the future. This is something that was requested by business organisations in Scotland in the wake of the EU referendum.

A new Post-Referendum Business Network will help shape policy and support for businesses. 

The network will allow the Scottish Government to work more closely with the main business bodies, the STUC and the Scotland Office on business support and policy.

The UK government must take action to get the economy moving.

The UK government has not taken any meaningful action to alleviate uncertainty or boost confidence in our economy since the EU referendum. It must give assurances about Scotland’s EU funding, bring forward a UK-wide stimulus package that would further enable the Scottish Government to accelerate capital spending, and increase support for exporters.