Friday 30 August 2002

Unexpected radicalism

The Confederation of British Industry is not usually associated with radical thinking. I was pleased to read that CBI boss, Digby Jones, will have some interesting things to say about Scotland's economy at the CBI dinner here tonight. From the interview:
He added that business in Scotland has now lost patience with Mr McConnell’s failure to create a low-tax economic environment for business - and may move against the First Minister during next year’s Holyrood election.
In the full interview in the printed version of the Scotsman he says:
...anything that would lead to a Scottish Executive saying "I'm spending your money, not money that someone else has given me" would lead to more resposibility.
So now business leaders are joining the call for fiscal responsibility with the Scottish parliament having to collect its own taxes instead of relying on handouts from London. Scotland's parliament is up for re-election next spring. Fiscal responsibility looks like becoming the main issue and that spells danger for the Labour/Liberal coalition.