Tracy Gilbert

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (John Grady) on securing this important debate. Ahead of the general election, Prosper Scotland summed up the hurdles that the Government face, in addition to the challenges of decarbonisation and an ageing population, as well as even greater technological challenges, when it said: “What is also evident is that our economy has struggled for the decade and a half since the financial crisis in 2007-08, a weakness that ill-prepared our society for when recent crises came.” It is fair to say that that is a damning indictment of the Tories’ and SNP’s handling of the economy. However, I believe that the best days lie ahead for Edinburgh North and Leith and for Scotland. We have the natural assets and the key ingredients to deliver economic growth. On the green economy and the sprint to clean power, Scotland already generates significant amounts of clean power, and if the Scottish Government give consent to Berwick Bank, we could boast the largest offshore wind farm in the world within a few years. We need to secure manufacturing and supply chain jobs to support the energy transition in Scotland, at sites such as the port of Leith in my constituency. To deliver Brand Scotland, we need to rip through the border and sell Scotland not just to ourselves, but to the rest of the world. We have salmon, shortbread, Tunnock’s teacakes, Irn-Bru, Lind & Lime gin and Johnnie Walker—a distillery that not only sells whisky to the world, but welcomes more than 1 million visitors a year to its whisky experience in my constituency. We need to market those brands to every corner of the globe. Edinburgh is the largest tech hub but, with the scale of innovation, we are creating more tech jobs than ever that cannot be filled. That leads me nicely to the key ask of this debate: for both of Scotland’s Governments to work together. With the devolution settlement, it is not possible for the UK Government alone to deliver economic growth for Scotland. That means celebrating achievements together, but also tackling the blockers—a bureaucratic planning system, a skills shortage and women struggling to enter the workplace, to name but a few. Finally, for workers across Scotland, a fair day’s work must mean a fair day’s pay. I am delighted that the Labour Government brought forward the new deal for workers within their first 100 days, and I look forward to the biggest increase in workers’ rights for a generation becoming a reality for workers across Edinburgh North and Leith and Scotland in the coming years.