SO far in 2020 I have had some very interesting conversations with Scottish Government Ministers. I hosted and facilitated a discussion (before lockdown) with Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and more recently an online meeting with Fergus Ewing, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism, both with around 30 Business for Scotland members. I also had a detailed conversation with Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, regarding the set up of the Expert Group on Recovery.

In all conversations, I was pleased to note a growing interest in and acceptance of the need to consider more radical economic thinking, to be more creative in ways to help business, to address communication problems on Scotland’s economy such as how GERS relates to the finances of the UK and not to an independent Scotland. Frankly, I was encouraged. Wellbeing is firmly on the agenda, albeit some eight years after BfS made it the core of its economic position and several years after the highly conservative Sustainable Growth Commission ignored almost all of our input.

I was a little disappointed therefore to see the overtly Conservative make-up of the Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. Sure there were some heavyweights of business and economics, but of big business and orthodox economics. Thus, I knew the group would be both unlikely to understand and unable to find the time to consider the opportunity to explore new economic ideas, heterodox/creative thinking and challenge the larger problems of the standard and failing normal economic approach.

I suggested the Government required two economic inquiries, not just one; firstly an Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, examining how we reopen the economy when the time is right (focussed on practicalities). Secondly, I touted a second Advisory Group on Post Covid-19 Economic Policy, exploring what the future of economics needs to look like in the medium-term, considering topics such as Basic Income, Annual Ground Rent, Benefit Corporation Tax Credits etc and building resilient, sustainable approaches to economics in Scotland (new economic thinking).

READ MORE: Mixed response to Benny Higgins report to aid Scottish economy

We got the first inquiry but we also NEED the second because we need to build back better and to grasp the emerging opportunity to improve society, the economy and the environment.

The expert group report contains good practical short term stuff, but it misses the big picture; that the old economics of left and right have failed, capitalism and socialism are simplified, out of date concepts and that fact that we need a new enlightened economic approach, one with wellbeing, innovation, creativity, developing human potential and sustainability at its heart. We need a new economics for a new Scotland.

What we got in yesterday’s report can be summed up in one of its sentences: “So while we understand the arguments in favour, we do not think that now is the time to prioritise a universal basic income”. As I predicted we do need to consider immediate restart issues but the time for the Scottish Government to actually prioritise new economic thinking is fast approaching.

Very few people realise the enormity of the economic, social and consumption changes that will be caused by Covid-19. The lack of capital and customers (do you want to go to a crowded pub at the moment?) added to the costs of restarting businesses and the threat of a second wave. The likelihood of changing consumer habits will mean businesses require far more Government support than has yet been contemplated.

With the prospect of Brexit at the end of the 2020 transition period, we face unheard-of economic volatility and uncertainty. Policy responses to these dual economic influences cannot be meek. We cannot go back to normal when normal wasn’t just not working, when normal was destroying the planet.

We have suffered two economic collapses in just over a decade, only mitigated by unprecedented levels of Government intervention. We need to design a new and more resilient economic approach.

BfS will soon publish a strategy for building-back-better after Covid-19 and we will call on the Scottish Government to be far more ambitious for Scotland. In the coming weeks we will contact other organisations who feel the same to join us in a discussion and planning process to offer the Scottish Government a more enlightened and ambitious longer term economic plan.

What the report got right:

• This crisis cannot be dealt with using the same measures as the financial crash or the 1980s crisis.

• It goes beyond merely business issues and includes human capital, environment and a community focus.

• Recognition that status-quo prior to the lockdown was not ideal and that high levels of regional inequality in Scotland need to be addressed.

• Recognition that Scotland is constrained within the current Fiscal Framework within the UK and a note that it was not designed for emergency situations, as it limits Scotland’s policy autonomy.

• They call for the SNIB to play a central role in this. They also advise the SNIB invest in community-led projects.

• Recognition that the recovery strategy should be regionalised.

BUT nothing that BfS hadn’t already said time and time before and very little that wasn’t already on the Scottish Government's radar.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is the chief executive of the campaigning business group Business for Scotland and author of Scotland the Brief, a guide to Scotland's economy.

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