Scottish Secretary reacts to GDP for Q4 2023 and December 2023

29 Feb 2024 01:05 PM

Alister Jack says boosting business and continuing to drive down inflation is key to long-term growth.

Latest figures show Scotland’s onshore GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.4% in December 2023. This follows no growth (0.0% change) in November (revised up from -0.1%) and a 0.8% fall in October (revised from -0.6%).

In the last quarter of 2023, (October to December), GDP is estimated to have contracted by 0.6%, following growth of 0.4% in Quarter 3 (July to September).

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack yesterday said:

The UK Government has halved inflation and, in doing so, we’ve broken down the single biggest barrier to growth. We are sticking to our plan to achieve long-term sustainable recovery.

We are boosting business and encouraging trade and opportunities by investing more than £2.9 billion directly across all parts of Scotland. We’re also putting more money in the paypackets of 2.4 million people in Scotland by cutting National Insurance and rewarding hard-working families with the biggest ever increase to the national living wage from next month.

Additional information 

• The combined impact of the Autumn and Spring policy packages is a permanent 0.5% increase in the level of potential output by the end of the OBR’s forecast.
• To reward work, we have cut National Insurance for 29 million people worth £9 billion per year, worth £450 for the average employee on £35,400 and £350 for the average self-employed person on £28,200. 
• Full expensing is the biggest business tax cut in modern British history worth over £50 billion over the next five years – helping companies to invest for less.  
• Since 2010, the UK has grown faster than France, Japan and Italy, and Germany.  
• Recent figures have shown that by the end of 2021 the UK had recovered faster from the pandemic than France, Germany, and Japan.