‘IT has become apparent that there is little difference between the parties of the Westminster establishment in terms of the approach that should be taken to addressing the economic difficulties facing the UK economy, with the Tories telling us that the austerity agenda is going to continue and Labour backing them in a vote that will result in £30 billion of cuts from public spending.

To listen to Labour politicians you would think there was no alternative to that course of action. But, thankfully, there is and Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, recently set out an alternative plan to tackle the economic deficit, by putting fairness at the heart of economic growth, increasing investment and maximising the skills of Scotland’s population.

In a major economic speech at University College London, the First Minister said there should be no “trade off” between reducing the deficit and having a fairer society, with a clear link between economic growth and reducing inequality.

And the Scottish Government has recently set out an economic strategy which will combine efforts to boost economic growth and increase competitiveness with a drive to tackle inequality.

It is not the less well-off who should have to shoulder the burden of the UK’s economic failures and I am proud to be part of a Scottish Government that is clearly laying out an alternative route back to prosperity that insists that the measure of success cannot simply be bare economic indicators but real life improvements for those who have had it worst.

The strategy, which focuses on investment, innovation, internationalisation and inclusive growth, reinforces the Government’s long term vision for Scotland’s economy which is based on a fundamental principle - by becoming a fairer society, we will also become a more productive and more prosperous economy.

Relatively small changes in Scotland’s long term economic performance can have important implications for output and employment. For example increasing Scotland’s total factor productivity by just 0.1% per annum could boost GDP by 1.3% and in turn boost employment by 11,000 and tax revenue by £400 million a year after 10 years.

Scotland is now competing well in terms of comparisons with the rest of the UK but we want to see our economy rivalling the strongest in Europe. The strategy provides a plan for all of Scotland and focuses on four main themes – Investing in our people, Innovation, Inclusive Growth and Internationalisation.

Successful economic policies such as gender equality and the living wage have a sense of fairness at their heart and help grow the economy by ensuring that Scotland maximises the skill and innovation of all its people. It is appalling to see reliance on services like food banks soaring here in Fife and across the country and that is a problem that will only deepen if we stick on the course of further austerity. There is another road, and we must take it’.