Platten: Shipping Crucial in Scotland’s Healing Process
Guy Platten, UK Chamber of Shipping's Chief Executive The shipping industry needs to play a significant role in that healing process in Scotland, Guy Platten, Chief Executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, said while speaking at a gathering of business leaders at the Scottish Shipping Benevolent Association’s annual dinner.
Platten criticised the UK Government and Better Together campaign for its ‘panicked, last minute’ referendum tactics, arguing they have caused considerable uncertainty for Scottish business.
According to him, the healing “has been made more difficult by panicked, last-minute tactics deployed by the Better Together campaign.”
“The democratic decision of the Scottish people should have brought an end to that uncertainty, but it has not. The option of Devo-Max should not have been a last minute offering scribbled on the back of a fag packet. It should have been an option all along.
What we have now is more uncertainty. Because none of us know what Devo-Max actually looks like. We don’t know what it means for the taxation of our companies, or government spending on training our future workforce. And until we do, our companies will find it very difficult to develop their own strategies for business success,” Platten said.
The Devo-Max concept of full fiscal autonomy stands for a constitutional arrangement in which instead of receiving a block grant from the UK Exchequer as at present, the Scottish Parliament would receive all taxation levied in Scotland.
Platten stressed that for Scottish shipping industry joining the UK Chamber of Shipping “is a necessity.”
“Because we are now beginning to work with the Scottish Government to see if we can develop our own, Scottish Shipping Strategic Partnership. If and when it transpires, it will give an even greater voice for our industry in the heart of power,” Platten explained.
According to him, this would mean a direct link between the UK Chamber’s Scottish members and Government – “not just to deal with day to day gripes and concerns, but tackle the major strategic obstacles we face.”
Source: UK Chamber of Shipping
