A GROUP of MPs will investigate whether the UK Government is doing enough to promote Scotland abroad amid claims the country is being held back by the Union.
The Scottish Affairs Committee, chaired by the SNP’s Pete Wishart, has said it will hold an inquiry into how much Westminster is doing to attract investment and international interest in Scotland’s “extraordinary offering”.
It will probe the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) representation of Scotland in its embassies and missions around the globe, as well as the work of the Scotland Office in this and how it “co-ordinates” this work.
Wishart, who leads the cross-party group of MPs, said Scotland “routinely punches above its weight on exports” but added the committee wanted to know if there was more to be done to “attract even more investment to Scotland”.
The SNP have said Scotland is being “held back from realising its full potential” by the Union, pointing to statistics which show the country outstrips both the rest of the UK and Europe for foreign investment.
Scotland’s exports – excluding oil and gas – were worth £87.1 billion in 2019 and on an upward trajectory. Some £35.1bn went abroad with £52bn going to the rest of the UK.
Whisky and fish are Scotland’s best-known exports but the 2019 figures also showed “strong growth” in the export of services.
The committee will focus on whether coordination between the Scotland Office and the FCDO could be strengthened and how Scotland has been promoted in recent free-trade deals signed by the UK Government, as well as those in the works.
Figures published earlier this year by accounting giants Ernst & Young showed that foreign direct investment in Scotland had increased by 14% in 2021, compared with 5.4% on average across Europe and just 1.8% in the rest of the UK.
Kenneth Gibson, the SNP chair of Holyrood’s finance committee, said: “Scotland has a highly skilled workforce and a thriving business sector - but under Westminster control, our nation is held back from realising its full potential.”
Wishart’s committee will seek to establish whether more can be done while remaining within the UK, but Gibson added: “Scotland needs the full powers of independence - to seize the opportunities, to maximise our talents and build a better nation for all who live here.”
