Gregor Poynton

Gregor Poynton

Labour — Livingston

Speaking in the House of Commons on 15 October 2024

Debate

Scotland’s Economy

Contribution

My hon. Friend talked the importance of the university sector to Scotland, and that is clear. I have two points on that. First, yesterday’s industrial strategy is welcome. This is about how we support scale-ups and start-ups coming out of our Scottish universities. There are already great examples in my constituency of Livingston, but also across Scotland. However, more work needs to be done to help them and to ensure that the great thinking that is going on in universities can come to be more commercial. Secondly, I have been told by many people that there is not the same access to finance, and oftentimes these companies are either bought up or have to look to move to America. The work that the UK Government are doing to create a stable environment and to involve the City of London, as part of the UK, to try to unlock some of the £3 trillion in pension funds to invest in these scale-ups is incredibly important. It is important not just that we start them in Scotland, but that we can grow them to a significant scale.

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