THE chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce claims Jim Wallace's only substantial business or economyrelated achievement during his lengthy spell as enterprise minister was the appointment of Jack Perry to head Scottish Enterprise.
Lesley Sawers made the claim as she expressed hopes that Nicol Stephen, the new enterprise minister for Scotland, would do more to bear out the Scottish Executive's assertion that the economy is its number one priority. Sawers and other representatives of Scotland's chambers of commerce will meet Stephen later this month to press their case.
In an outspoken attack on the Scottish Parliament, Sawers also claimed MSPs were "almost frightened" of business.
Giving her view of Wallace's term as enterprise minister, Sawers said: "His track record speaks for itself. I can't really name anything substantial that Jim Wallace achieved. A very pleasant man - I am not personally attacking Jim Wallace.
"In terms of moving forward the business and economic agendas for Scotland, I am struggling to see what it would be - maybe appointing Jack Perry."
Perry, a former chairman of the Confederation of British Industry who was a partner with accountancy firm Ernst & Young, started as chief executive of publicly-funded economic development agency Scottish Enterprise in February 2004.
Wallace, who is on a family holiday and could not be reached for comment yesterday, stepped down as enterprise minister earlier this summer after about two years in the post.
Stephen also succeeded Wallace in his role as deputy first minister.
The Scottish Executive yesterday disputed Sawers' view of Wallace, citing, among other initiatives, the launch of the Scottish Co-Investment Fund.
Asked whether she believed the economy was in reality the Scottish Executive's number one priority, Sawers replied: "I think most businesses in Scotland would say they (the executive) are almost frightened of business. There is a distance.
"If you look at the experience of MSPs, there is only 29 of them have got business experience and most of them (the 29) are lawyers. They don't get the issues."
Sawers, emphasising business also had a responsibility to engage with the Scottish Executive, added: "They are a fact of life. I think it is up to us to help them understand why it (business) is important."
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce is the largest in Scotland with 1600 members, and the oldest in the world.
Stephen Baxter, who is chairman of the chamber and managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: "To be fair, I have got hopes for Nicol Stephen. I have come (across) Nicol Stephen several times in his role at transport. He has made some brave decisions on transport, whether it be investment in roads or the two rail links to the airports."
Sawers said: "The fact is we have this early meeting."
Asked what she wished to see from the Scottish Executive, Sawers replied: "Business higher up the agenda. We would obviously like to see some of the challenges (tackled on) infrastructure, transport. We would like to see parity in the business rates. The old chestnuts that every business organisation has been pushing for."
Taking issue with Sawers' view of Wallace's record, a Scottish Executive spokesman said: "During Jim Wallace's time as enterprise and lifelong learning minister, the executive achieved substantial progress in many issues relating to enterprise across Scotland.
During this period, the executive has, among other things, developed the Scottish CoInvestment Fund, providing vital early-stage capital to young and growing businesses, put in place the Business StartUp Fund, providing GBP1000 to 18 to 30-year-olds to help them start up in business, and overseen the first research contracts awarded by intermediary technology institutes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, (and) Dundee.
"There has also been massive investment by the executive in Scotland's transport infrastructure, which will see GBP1bn spent by 2006, the route development fund opening up access to business through new direct air links, a significant increase in funding for tourism marketing, and broadband rollout so that all communities in Scotland will have access to broadband technology by (the) end of this year."
Sawers has, since taking over as chief executive of Glasgow Chamber, pushed to return it to its original values when it was set up in 1783 of fighting for members' business interests, and she is determined it should not be a "social club".
She is recruiting new members to reflect the fact that Glasgow is no longer primarily an industrial city.
Sawers, who worked previously for ScottishPower, tourism promotion agency VisitScotland, and Royal Mail, said: "Glasgow is all about the service economy. That is where the growth is going to come from. We have repositioned it (the chamber) into the tourism, retail, leisure sector."
She emphasised the importance of Glasgow fending off challenges from Birmingham and Manchester to remain the number two retail centre in the UK.
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