Mike Freer
Main Page: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)Department Debates - View all Mike Freer's debates with the Scotland Office
(10 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
1. What assessment he has made of the potential for international inward investment in Scotland after 2014.
The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr Alistair Carmichael)
As part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has an impressive track record of attracting international inward investment, which recent figures have put at its highest level for 16 years. Scotland has strong potential to build on that record as part of the UK, the No. 1 location for Europe-bound foreign investment.
Mike Freer
Does my right hon. Friend agree that inward investment is boosted by Scotland being part of a single market and having a single currency?
Mr Carmichael
Indeed; I do agree with my hon. Friend. The people of Scotland very much understand that access to the pound sterling as our currency and access to that larger UK market benefit them, and they value them, especially the business community. We know that, because that is why the nationalists are constantly telling us that even in independence we would still be able to keep those things. They are wrong; it is cynical; and as we saw from yesterday’s poll, nobody is really being fooled by it.