Launching its own ‘Business Manifesto’, the CBI has identified a series of key challenges that the next Scottish Government must grasp in order to bolster investment and return Scotland’s struggling economy to the path of growth and competitiveness.

The CBI argues that bold action is needed to support higher education and skills delivery, tackle Scotland’s tax and regulatory drift from the rest of the UK, and upgrade Scotland’s infrastructure to make it fit for a modern economy. Key priorities include:

1. Stopping tax and regulatory drift: Scotland can’t afford further divergence with the rest of the UK.
   • On income tax divergence: higher rates are making it harder for Scottish firms to recruit, and, in turn, this is pushing talent south.
   • On procurement divergence: Scotland’s “go-it-alone” rules are adding cost, confusion and disadvantage for Scottish bidders.
   • On legal divergence: opt-out class action suits risk making Scotland a playground for speculative claims, while failure to mirror judicial reforms in other parts of the UK could leave major commercial projects exposed to delay and legal risk.
2. Fixing a planning system that has become the single biggest brake on economic growth.
   • Infrastructure investors are crystal clear: Scotland’s consenting regime is slower, less predictable and more resource-starved than competitors and every month of delay for projects costs jobs, stalls regeneration and hikes up business expenditure.
   • Faster, properly resourced planning – not more strategies – is what unlocks grid upgrades, offshore wind, housing and industrial sites. Delays simply add cost and push investors away.
   • Scotland cannot hit its net zero or growth ambitions while major projects spend years queuing in the planning system.
3. Addressing an infrastructure gap that has become a competitiveness gap – and greenlighting transformational projects to prevent the gap becoming permanent.
   • Commit to and deliver a Clyde Metro, including a direct link between Glasgow and Glasgow Airport — as a transformational project for growth and connectivity in Scotland’s largest city.
   • Reassess Scotland’s position on new nuclear energy to ensure the country does not miss out on the jobs and investment associated with the UK’s Small Modular Reactor programme. With billions already being committed elsewhere in the UK, failing to assess the economic opportunity risks excluding Scotland from high-value supply chains and long-term energy security.
   • Publish a national rail-electrification plan with clear funding, delivery milestones and alignment to the UK Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline – phased electrification plans across the central belt, north-east and the Highlands prioritised. This will unlock labour markets, investment zones, and supply chains.
   • These projects send a global signal: Scotland backs growth, long-term planning and private investment.
   • But without tackling planning delays and securing stable funding models, these projects may not leave the drawing board.
4. Fixing the foundations of a skills system that is lagging behind the times for a modern, high growth economy.
   • Scotland can’t deliver growth if its skills system keeps funding yesterday’s demand.
   • Employers need a model that backs high-value provision, expands capacity where shortages are most acute, and supports lifelong learning instead of year-to-year firefighting.
   • A single national skills strategy, aligned to economic need, is essential to drive productivity and support the green and digital transitions.
   • Conduct and publish a full audit of skills funding in Scotland, including Apprenticeship Levy income and expenditure, to make the system more transparent and accountable.
5. Recognising that incremental tweaks aren’t enough to release the funding pressures from Scotland’s education system.
   • Commission an independent, system-wide review of tertiary education, examining the future shape, size and funding of colleges and universities.
   • Secure long-term, sustainable funding for universities, including reviewing how places are funded so Scotland can grow capacity in priority subjects, especially high-cost STEM.
   • Back modular, short and flexible upskilling, giving FE, HE and training providers the financial flexibility to offer rapid retraining aligned with Scotland’s economic strategy.
6. Building growth and unlocking the workforce with competitive childcare funding
   • Childcare is now an essential economic policy lever, not just a social policy.
   • Without reform and proper funding, parents – especially women – are being locked out of work, failing to realise their potential and employers can’t fill vacancies and access a more diverse talent pool
   • CBI analysis shows that mirroring the expansion of childcare funding support recently seen in England could bring around 2,200 people back into the workforce annually and deliver an £80 million boost to Scotland’s GDP per year.
   • Going one better than England – by making sure no parent earns more but takes home less – could make Scotland competitive again for the best paid jobs.

Michelle Ferguson, director, CBI Scotland, said: “For too long, Scotland’s households and businesses have been shortchanged by an economy that has fallen short of our ambitions. We need all parties competing at this election to recognise that growth really is the only game in town and that they need to stay laser focused on pro-enterprise policies that will boost prosperity across every part of the country. 

“Tax and regulatory drift, creaking infrastructure and an education and skills system that isn’t meeting the needs of business simply isn’t good enough. Not only does it restrict investment and growth at a domestic level, but it makes us less attractive to the global talent and investment we need to thrive in the years ahead.

“This election must become a line in the sand. A moment when we start to match our ambition for a high skilled, high growth, digital economy with the action needed to make that a reality. The key to success lies in every party’s manifesto – business is committed to that goal and simply wants our political leaders to pledge to joining us on that important journey.”