As the Scottish Parliament election looms ever closer, the four local candidates set out their arguments over jobs and employment

Charity Pierce - Scottish Liberal Democrats

TO make Scotland the best again, we need to use the skills, talents and creativity of everyone who lives here and make sure they can participate in the economy. Ultimately, to boost jobs we need to be boosting businesses.

A recent survey by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills found that one in five Scottish businesses can’t find the skills they need. That’s why our penny for education is so important. By adding a modest penny onto income tax we will deliver a transformational half a billion pounds of investment into our nurseries, schools and colleges.

The route into work is through education and businesses need a Scotland where they can draw on the well-educated and trained talents of people from all backgrounds, with a government that supports education, innovation and science to make sure business growth isn’t being hampered on the ground, we also need to carry out a full business rate revaluation. Scotland needs a competitive

business tax system. There needs to be much more flexibility, particularly for start-up businesses who are forced to pay out business rates before they have been able to see a return on their investment.

I believe society is stronger if it is fairer. Evidence from around the world shows that the economy benefits from a society where every person has the opportunity to get on in life and where extremes of wealth and power are reduced.

That’s why Liberal Democrats support fair business practice. We will pay the Living Wage for all public services and expand the Fair Business Pledge to encourage liberal business practices on decent wages, women in senior roles and prompt payment to suppliers.

We will also restrict Scottish Government grants for business development to companies that pay the Living Wage. If a firm does not pay its workers properly or pay the tax they’re supposed to, like Amazon, why should it get taxpayers’ money to help it grow.

Johanna Baxter - Scottish Labour Party

THE Scottish jobless rate is now 6.2 per cent, compared with 5.1 per cent for the UK as a whole. Last week we learned that unemployment in Scotland rose by 20,000 between December and February to stand at 171,000, according to official figures. Cunninghame North has one of the highest unemployment and long-term unemployment rates in the country and the situation is only going to get worse with the local SNP council cutting jobs, potential redundancies at Z Hincliffe and the lack of investment in our town centres.

That’s a record that should shame the SNP.

Scotland needs a revolution in skills and the economy and Scottish Labour will use the powers of the Parliament – new and existing – to put fair and full employment at the heart of our vision for the suture of Scotland.

We desperately need inward investment here to create good quality jobs for local people and fighting for those jobs and this investment would be my top priority as your MSP.

I will also protect the workers and businesses that rely on CalMac by keeping CalMac in public hands – a Labour would halt that tendering process immediately because we know that these ferries are a lifeline, not a luxury for our island communities.

The SNP have promised the Dalry bypass for many years but it’s never been delivered – I would make sure that a Labour government fulfilled this promise to you. We will introduce a new single “smart ticket” that would cover all transport services across Scotland, including our ferries, to make it easier for you to get to work.

We will create a new skills, training and economic development agency, Skills Scotland, to provide focus to the disparate range of services around employment and training. It will actively support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and establish a new framework for delivering skills.

We will make wages fairer and our Living Wage Commission will be tasked to ensure no-one is paid below the living wage and we’ll invest in our children’s education, because that is the soundest economic investment we can make.

Jamie Greene - Scottish Conservatives

I BELIEVE that a decent, honest, paid job is the best route out of poverty. I grew up in a council estate in Greenock and know first-hand the effects of what long-term unemployment and welfare dependency can do to a town. The self-perpetuating cycle has to be broken.

We need a sensible mix of new small, medium and large businesses to come to North Ayrshire and open up shop, create new jobs and re-invigorate the local economy. Let’s face it, Mr Gibson and his party have had 2 full terms in office to do just that.

I’ve helped run small companies and I know first-hand how important it is to reward entrepreneurs. Their industrious spirit and unshakeable tenacity have helped create almost 300,000 private sector jobs in Scotland over the past few years.

Figures show that last year there were 55,400 more businesses in Scotland compared to 2010 but a slump in oil-prices, continued world uncertainty and the never ending threat of another

independence referendum is putting serious investors off and has understandably rattled many business owners. And goodness knows we need large scale investment in this part of the world.

The reality is that the SNP is presiding over a system which puts businesses at a competitive disadvantage to those in other parts of the UK. In his latest budget, John Swinney doubled the Large Business Supplement, which will provide an additional financial burden on Scottish firms totalling £60 million. The Scottish Conservatives will support a business rates review and have called for existing rates to be frozen until that review has published its recommendations.

I fundamentally do not believe that income tax should be higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK. Throughout this election campaign the SNP, Labour and the LibDems have all been trying to outbid each other over how high our taxes should be. Raising personal taxes in Scotland above the rest of the UK will simply drive out talent.

Rest assured that I will fight to protect the pay packets of hardworking Scots, dragging Holyrood back to the centre-ground on taxation and making sure that Scotland is attractive as a place to live and work.

A Scottish Conservative opposition will make sure the Scottish government rewards enterprise and nurtures aspiration.

Kenneth Gibson - Scottish National Party

EMPLOYMENT in Ayrshire is still recovering from the Blair years; 14,500 manufacturing jobs - 53 per cent - were lost under Labour in the decade to 2007; some 2,200 in North Ayrshire from 2005-2007 alone. Then the recession struck, with austerity imposed by successive UK Governments.

Despite setbacks, North Ayrshire hosts ambitious, world-class companies such as GSK, Highland Meats and DSM, which have invested millions and continue to, showing their faith in the people of North Ayrshire.

SNP led NAC has developed an innovative ‘Team North Ayrshire’ consisting of public and private sector leaders committed to driving business growth, including Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Development International. This network offers greater collaboration, a single point of contact and more flexible business support.

Scottish Enterprise, working to attract inward investment, identified 40 export led growth companies in North Ayrshire, and supports another 150. A re-elected SNP Government will establish export and innovation hubs in London, Dublin and Brussels to help businesses access markets and investment.

We are encouraging entrepreneurial skills in our schools and developing the Women in Enterprise Action Framework to increase the number of women starting and leading businesses. In North Ayrshire between January 2012 and December 2015, the number of women in work rose from 11,600 to 13,300. We will develop ‘returnships’ for people returning to work after a long break, such as women who have raised families.

Apprenticeships in North Ayrshire have doubled in three years and youth unemployment has fallen faster than anywhere else in Scotland. I organise an Employment Fayre each year to help match jobs to job-seekers locally.

Infrastructure developments range from 1,066 affordable homes in partnership between NAC, the SNP Government and housing associations and refurbishing Saltcoats Town Hall to the £38m out-to-tender Dalry Bypass and major construction projects such as the new £22.8m Brodick Harbour, £47m Arran ferry at Port Glasgow, Woodland’s View Mental Health Hospital, Largs para-sports facility, Garnock Campus and a new Largs Academy Campus and Ardrossan Academy. Encouraging social enterprises to maximise social benefit is also important.