Business leaders grilled Edinburgh’s Holyrood candidates on Monday as the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce held its hustings on Monday afternoon.
Daniel Johnson of Scottish Labour, the SNP’s Ivan McKee of the SNP, Jane Alliston Pickard of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Miles Briggs of the Scottish Conservatives, and Nigel Douglas of Reform UK were questioned by Edinburgh’s business leaders in a session chaired by Scotsman Political Editor, Alastair Grant.
The Scottish Greens did not send a representative, although Jo Davidson, head of policy and insight at ECC, said that the party had been invited.
The candidates were grilled on topics including the tax system, housing, enterprise, and AI data centres.
Ivan McKee, who is also the Scottish Government’s minister for public finance, was questioned by candidates on the SNP’s plans to simplify the tax system in Scotland.
Pointing to his party’s manifesto, McKee said that while his party would simplify the tax rate, the party’s Net Zero taxes were “absolute concrete investments” towards making transport cheaper and helping those in employment get to their work.
Regarding how candidates would implement the ECC’s policy plan “For Good Growth”, Johnson, who is running in Edinburgh Southern, pointed to “lessons for us to learn” from combined authorities in England.
Johnson said: “We think our city regions in Scotland almost certainly could benefit from them.
“We would want to bring forward devolution legislation to create combined authorities.
“That’s not sucking powers in from local authorities, it’s about pushing powers up and centre, but only when local authorities ask for them. That’s actually quite a critical element.”
Jane Alliston Pickard, the Scottish Lib Dem candidate for Edinburgh Southern, pushed for a change in culture on apprenticeships, and pushed business leaders to rethink the work experience given to secondary school pupils.
She said: “It is so much harder for our young people to get work experience, and that is so at a multiple of levels.
“It’s important in terms of development, in terms of confidence and in terms of making good choices for themselves.”
Candidates were quizzed by an audience member on their views concerning AI data centres following the City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to deny planning permission for the construction of two data centres in Edinburgh.
Reform UK’s, Nigel Douglas, who is running in East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs, branded himself an “AI guy” and said he was disappointed that the data centres were not approved.
He said: “If we don’t carry on and start moving forward, we’re going to get left behind.
“We’re all getting left behind from being an industrialised country at the minute, we just need to make sure that we actually move forward on that.”
The Scottish Greens have been contacted for comment regarding their absence.
, as the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce held its hustings in partnership with The Scotsman.){kind=link}