Gordon Brown MP backed a call for an alternative to London-centric economics when he spoke in Kirkcaldy.
Speaking at the launch of a strategy to regenerate Scotland’s post-industrial communities, which was held in the Town House, Mr Brown endorsed the recommendations of the Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA).
The ICA has drafted a 10 point action plan aimed at influencing government policy both at Holyrood and Westminster.
Mr Brown echoed the ICA’s suggestion that there is an over-reliance on financial services in London and a need to boost industry in other regions.
He said: “We cannot have a situation…where you have congestion and overpopulation, and you have pressures that lead to fast rising house prices in one part of the UK, particularly the south, and you have depopulation, you have net outward migration, you have a loss of jobs and loss of people in some of the other areas of the country.
“Any government, and this is true of Europe and America but it’s also true of Britain, has got to have a policy for balanced economic growth.”
Mr Brown warned of an exponential rate of change in terms of technological advances in years to come and stressed the importance of ensuring young people had access to education and training.
Mr Brown paid tribute to the ICA, describing it as a “powerhouse for putting the case for regeneration” for coalfields across the United Kingdom.
Picture by George McLuskie