Open letter to Nicola Sturgeon and Kate Forbes.

Firstly, I genuinely mean no offence to you personally, this is not a comment related to your core belief, which I don’t share. No, the survival of the private sector in Scotland is a bigger, much more important matter than that.

The Covid19 pandemic and the economic damage it is causing are real. These are not political issues but are, literally, matters of life or death. They are matters that are going to shape our society and wellbeing for many years to come.

It is a statement of fact that your economic experiences, knowledge and understanding are much more limited than the available resources on hand at UK level. That is not your fault. As I say, it is simply a statement of fact.

Please do not let pride, party or constitutional politics get in the way of acknowledging these facts. If you have a care for the lives of Scots and our businesses, please step aside and allow HMG to administer entirely the economic rescue package they have designed.

The fundamentals of the UK economy, our freedom to take action to aid our citizens without restriction are precious. We do not have to wait on the benevolence of the few countries that dictate economic policy in the EU. No, we have our own resources and access to them.

UK resources are here and ready. Intellect, ingenuity, craft, finance. All here in scale, when we need it and need it we do. Please don’t restrict our access to these resources. It is no shame to admit the scale of this situation is beyond you.

Don’t let your pride set our economy, health and wellbeing back further than it need be.