Parliamentary motion: The Arc of Recovery

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): The Arc of Recovery— That the Parliament considers that Scotland is being held back by the mismanagement of the UK economy as evidenced by the forthcoming publication of the OECD Economic Outlook, which, on 17 August 2009, will report that the UK has the worst underlying financial balance as a percentage of GDP of any member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and that the UK’s current account balance will show a $56.3 billion deficit this year and a $56.2 billion deficit next year (-2.6% and -2.4% of GDP); believes that Scotland’s recovery would be faster and stronger as an independent nation and contrasts Scotland’s position as part of the UK with OECD figures for other nations, which show that Ireland will move from a deficit of $1.4 billion to a surplus of $2.1 billion (-0.6% to +0.9% of GDP), Iceland’s deficit equivalent will be $0.4 billion and $0.1 billion (-3% and -1.1% of GDP), Finland will have a surplus of $0.9 billion this year and a $1 billion surplus next year (+0.4% and +0.4% of GDP), while Norway will show a $70.3 billion surplus followed by a $84.9 billion surplus (+18.2% and +20.6% of GDP), and further considers that Scotland has got what it takes to get through this recession and would be better off with the same freedom and flexibility as these independent nations in this arc of recovery.