Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has promised his party will create jobs and grow the economy if elected to government.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier, he said Labour’s “manifesto for growth,” published on Thursday, would “make real” the promise to boost the economy and reduce unemployment.
The pledge came as he visited staff and students at Dundee College with Labour’s candidate for the Dundee City West Holyrood seat, Richard McCready.
“If I am first minister, I will put economic growth at the heart of everything I do,” he said.
“These are tough times and we must focus on the things that really matter. Scottish businesses must be able to do what they do best: creating jobs and prosperity.”
He said plans for an economic cabinet with trade union and business representation would give the government expertise from outside normal circles and be given real influence.
The SNP’s own council of economic advisers had been a good idea, he said, but had “little impact” and will be scrapped.
“This will be a much more powerful instrument,” he insisted.
The proposal was among 88 measures designed to support businesses, including a Plus One scheme to help sole traders take on an employee.
Transport projects, such as the Glasgow Airport rail link cancelled by the SNP administration, would be brought back, while the party’s commitment to the replacement crossing for the Forth was reiterated.
Mr Gray also said he wants to double the value of exports from business.
There will also be incentives for councils to stimulate their local economies, with a particular focus on Scotland’s cities.
Mr Gray cited the V&A project in Dundee as a good example of the type of project that would stimulate the economy.
The manifesto said the best way to create growth is to work in “partnership” with business, and brought together other policies including the “green new deal,” which aims to exploit the renewables sector.
Labour proposes to set up Energy Scotland, which will be tasked with attracting £1 billion in investment from the UK’s planned green investment bank.
Mr Gray said it was vital to look to the future and endorsed Tayside and Fife’s potential as a renewable energy hub.
“We need to get Scotland’s economy moving but that cannot mean just going back to 2007 or 2005. We have to create jobs in these new industries,” he said.
But the SNP’s Dundee City West parliamentary candidate Joe FitzPatrick said the plans came “late in the day.”
“He should be questioned as to why he led Labour to vote against the SNP’s budget, with its ambitious plans for a guarantee of 25,000 apprenticeship places a year for the next four years and an expanded programme to help young people into work with 25,000 training places under the party’s £40 million Youth Employment Scotland proposals,” he said.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats also criticised Mr Gray’s plans.
“Labour’s big idea to get Scotland working again is to set up another quango,” said Lib Dem campaign chairman George Lyon.
“Labour is U-turning by the day and none of their sums add up,” said Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee.