JOHN Swinney has mocked Russell Findlay for “making the economic case for independence” in an exchange relating to business innovation.
The First Minister pointed out that a list of European countries put forward by the Scottish Tory leader, which he said were doing better than Scotland, are all independent countries.
Findlay raised the Scottish Government’s innovation strategy at FMQs, claiming that “performance is declining” over more than half of the Government’s “own key measures”.
Swinney argued in response that the Government takes “forward a whole range of different measures” to encourage innovation in a bid to boost economic growth.
Findlay pressed the issue, adding that one of the measures related to the number of Scottish businesses that are “innovating”, by using OECD rules. The Scottish Tory leader claimed that Scotland is ranked “behind every single region of England”.
Swinney hit back that recent data showed Scotland had the highest rates of start-ups in the UK, bar one part of England.
Findlay then pointed to the fact that Scotland is ranked 23rd out of 28 European countries.
He added: “We're behind Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and within the UK we're behind Wales and almost every English region. Is this really a record to be proud of?”
The First Minister hit back: “Mr Findlay gave me a whole range of examples about other European countries.
“I would simply make the point to Mr Findlay that those other European countries are all independent countries, with the full range of economic powers at their disposal.”
Over cheering from the SNP benches, Swinney added: “So I'm really delighted that Mr Findlay has come to Parliament today, and he's made the economic argument for Scottish independence.”
Findlay went on to ask Swinney if he would accept that the Scottish Government is "actively harming business innovation and putting jobs at risk”, claiming that businesses are “being stifled by a torrent of regulation”.
The First Minister responded: “No, I won’t accept that.”
He added: “Now, Mr Findlay was surprised that I picked up on his open support for Scottish independence in his question to me, but let me give him a practical example.
“One of the issues that businesses are wrestling with today is the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions.
“It is stifling growth in our country. That was not a decision of my government. That was a decision of the hopeless United Kingdom Labour Government, which is damaging our economy.
“So I rest my case. If we had the powers in Scotland to take our own economic decisions, we would be better off through independence.”
Elsewhere, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised the case of a footballer who broke her leg, enduring a five-hour wait for an ambulance.
Brooke Paterson, 19, was injured in a tackle during a game between her Linlithgow Rose side and Cumbernauld United on Sunday.
Swinney said this was due to an "error in classification" and issued an apology.
The Scottish Ambulance Service has also apologised.
Swinney said: “I apologise to Brooke Paterson.
“I’ve read the story this morning about the issue, I regret very much the experience Brooke Paterson has had.
“I looked into this this morning, and there will have to be further scrutiny about this because I’ve had limited time to look at this this morning.
“It looks to me as if an error was made in the classification of this particular call, which has not had the priority that it should have had.
“That’s what it looks like based on the limited time this morning I have had to look at that.
“That’s not acceptable, that is an error that has been made and we need to look into whether that is the case or whether there are other steps that need to be taken to remedy that.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the circumstances.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Paterson for the delay in the ambulance response and for any distress caused,” the statement said.
“We can confirm that we received a number of calls on September 21 to attend this incident, but due to high demand and hospital turnaround times, which ranged between 90 minutes to three hours in the area, this significantly delayed our response and we unfortunately could not attend immediately.
“An investigation into Ms Paterson’s care will be carried out and any learnings implemented."
