What's wrong with the Scottish economy?

The Federation of Small Businesses report on the Scottish Economy has been receiving a lot of attention recently. Stuart Dickson gives us an SNP perspective over on the Independence blog.

In his regular Scotsman column today, former SNP MSP Duncan Hamilton also says that national independence is essential if our economy is to improve:

That frustration, anger and resentment at the current state of Scottish life and the burning desire to see things change is what makes me a Scottish Nationalist.

No real surprise there, coming from a member of the SNP. But Mr Hamilton went on to say:

PART of the absence of entrepreneurial thinking in Scotland must be linked to our failure to tackle the core question for national governments in the 21st century. The unthinking maintenance of the traditional relationship between the state and the individual has embedded a particular model of government responsibility and individual dependency. That is not to say all benefits must be slashed and all state aid removed. But it is, emphatically, to support a fundamental reappraisal of what individuals should legitimately expect from government and what level of personal responsibility and risk they should adopt.

Bravo, Mr Hamilton. Nationalist politicians spend a huge amount of time examining the relationship between Scotland and Britain but don't ever seem to notice the importance of the relationship between the individual and The State, whatever its nationality. Many of us think that that second relationship is more important than the first. All entrepreneurs worry deeply about that second relationship and if the nationalists are really concerned about the economy we should be hearing more from the likes of Mr Hamilton and less from the "it's all the fault of the English" brigade.