McColl calls for economic control

Mr McColl said the government should manage the economy

One of Scotland's most successful businessman has called for the devolved government to be given more power to control the economy.

Jim McColl, who is one of the Scottish Government's financial advisers, said "the more levers you can pull to control the economy the better".

Mr McColl bought engineering firm Weir Pumps last year.

He told BBC Scotland's The Business the Scottish Government had many people who could make the right decisions.

Mr McColl, 56, led a management buyout of Clyde Blowers in the late 90s.

Last May, he bought Glasgow-based Weir Pumps in a �100m funding package and created a new firm Clyde Pumps.

Mr McColl is a member of the 11-strong council of advisers asked by First Minister Alex Salmond to find ways to tackle Scotland's "systemic economic mediocrity".

He said of the current government's powers: "Don't underestimate the power of innovation, just thinking out of the box about how you can do better with the powers you have got.

"That's what the Scottish Government have to do just now. They have to make the best use of the powers they have got while seeking to have some more."

It is very important to have a forward-looking government that is focused on economic growth Jim McColl Clyde Pumps

Using the analogy of his own companies, Mr McColl said: "I find it works much better when you give as much autonomy as you can to a business unit and give the management freedom to manage that business and use their talents.

"Personally I would not want to work for a large group where I was being given certain restrictions on what I could do. So obviously the more freedom you have to manage the economy, the better you can manage it."

He warned that the problem with full fiscal autonomy was that you could do "a lot of bad things as well with those powers".

"It is very important to have a forward-looking government that is focused on economic growth," he said.

Mr McColl added that the current Scottish Government had "a lot of talented people who are very capable of making those decisions".

He stopped short of pushing for independence, saying that would taking a "political view".

However, he added: "I think it is better for Scotland if they have more power to manage their destiny.

"In a small country like this, we can be more fleet-of-foot and do a lot more things quickly if we had more powers."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version