SHERIDAN SLAMS EXECUTIVE JOBS STRATEGY AS TOTAL FAILURE
- INWARD INVESTMENT PLUMMETS BY 91% IN LAST FIVE YEARS

Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Socialist Party MSP and National Convenor, today slammed the Scottish Executive’s job and inward investment strategy as a “complete failure”.

Citing detailed statistics from the Scottish Parliament Information and Research Centre, Sheridan highlighted the massive 91% drop in inward investment to Scotland from £3.1 billion in 1996-1997 to only £271 million in 2001-2002. The number of jobs created by inward investment also plummeted from a 1999 high of 19,334 to only 6,386 in 2001-2002.

Tommy said,
“These figures prove the Executive policy of selling Scottish workers as cheap labour to international capital to entice investment is now failing miserably as new centres of cheap labour become available across Eastern Europe. There has been a 91% fall in inward investment over the last five years and the number of jobs created has also plummeted and they are invariably insecure. By offering Scotland as a cheap labour option to the multinational sharks, the Executive has created huge insecurity and exposed us to disinvestment as these companies relocate to other countries with even cheaper labour. Investment in Scotland must be based on attracting secure, well-paid employment and urgent legislation is required to make it more difficult for foreign companies to abandon Scotland and leave despair and debt in their wake to haunt the abandoned communities.”

For more information, contact Tommy Sheridan on 07887 795075 or Hugh Kerr on 0131 348 5631/07713 063647