Scottish Chamber of Commerce Business Address 2026: First Minister's speech - 5 November 2026

It is an absolute pleasure to be with you tonight and to have the opportunity to continue the substantial engagement that the government takes forward with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the business community in Scotland.

At the very outset of my remarks, I want to associate my government with the aspiration that Charandeep has just set out to you.

That by collective efforts by the actions of government, by the actions of the business community, I want to make sure that Scotland is the best place to do business and we take the actions to make that possible.

And that’s an aim that should be uniting us all in bringing us together in common purpose to achieve those objectives.

Because right at the heart of the government’s programme is the determination to grow the economy to ensure that we are able to deliver that substantial level of economic performance that will transform the life chances of people in our country.

And that aspiration lies at the heart of the government’s programme. It requires us to engage on a constant basis with the business community, and I pledge tonight that throughout this parliamentary term the government under my leadership will be a government that is engaged with business on a constant basis.

Charandeep mentioned that we have seen rather a lot of each other in the last couple of weeks and it is no word of exaggeration to say that we have respectively seen more of each other than we have seen of our respective families. I suspect that’s been a relief to some of my family. But nonetheless it is nice to be back.

I want to say a few words about Charandeep to express, first of all, my absolute delight at his appointment as Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce. And to see the commitment that he demonstrates to strengthening the partnership between government and business and to ensure that that dialogue leads to the representation of the views of chambers around the country in an influential way over the priorities of government.

We have spent a lot of time together on the trip to India and I was delighted with the dialogue and the engagement that we had as we promoted Scotland overseas. Taking the opportunity of the UK Free Trade Deal to advance the case for Scotch whisky, which we were doing on every occasion we possibly could do.

Nigel mentioned the early morning visit to the cold store in Heathrow Airport to see the scale of the operation that sends Scottish salmon to other jurisdictions and obviously trying to pave the way for Scottish salmon to reach the Indian market. And what I can reflect on from that trip is a very warm welcome for the produce and the ideas and the imagination from Scotland.

But Charandeep is an outstanding ambassador for Scotland and for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce network. And I want to just give you one particular moment on our visit which made me enormously proud of the contribution that Charandeep made to our visit.

We had, as Rodney talked about, a Scotland-India Business Forum hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and we were given a very warm welcome and Charandeep and I both spoke to this particular occasion.

But there is something particular and special about Charandeep’s contribution because he spoke at length about the priorities of the Chambers of Commerce network. He concluded his speech to this audience in Punjabi, and for me as First Minister of Scotland, who is proud to lead a diverse country, I cannot tell you how proud I was that a leading public figure from Scotland was able to take his own cultural heritage on behalf of Scotland and appeal to an Indian audience with such beauty and majesty in the language that he used.

It made me so proud of Scotland and so proud of the welcome and the inclusion of our country and so proud of the leadership of Charandeep Singh from the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

I know there will always be a bit of controversy about politicians who go on international travel, you might have noticed it in the newspapers.

But whether we are speaking to business leaders or investors or Bollywood stars or government representatives what I can say, to corroborate what Rodney and Charandeep have said, is there is a massive opportunity for Scotland to reach the Indian market. Just as there is a massive opportunity for Scotland to reach other international markets.

And that aspiration has lain at the heart of the approach of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce network for as long as I can remember.

That determination to make sure that Scotland looks outward. That we find the ways that we can reach other economies. How we can engineer and support growth within our economy if we are prepared to look outwards and prepared to promote the strengths of Scotland.

And that vision and that imagination lies at the heart of the economic strategy that I want to pursue for Scotland. And I know that we have willing allies in the Scottish Chambers of Commerce network to enable us to do exactly that.

But I also recognise that the business community and the network across the country is facing significant challenges at this particular time.

I know the business community hungers after certainty. About clarity of government direction. About clarity of government policy.

And what I want to say to you tonight is that I am determined that the Scottish Government that I lead will provide as much certainty as we possibly can do to the conduct of business in Scotland. So that business knows how to plan for the future. Knows what it can rely on, what to expect from the government, as it takes forward its policy priorities.

And I think we are a fortunate country in that we have world-class businesses, exceptional talent and we have a spirit of innovation that has never been constrained by the size of the location of our country.

But what we have to ask ourselves at this moment in time, it is a question that the government asks itself, is what more can we do to make sure that further success for our country is delivered? That further economic opportunities are created. That the possibilities that exist in Scotland can be realised as a consequence of our interventions.

And, for me, our focus has got to be on creating the conditions for investment, growth and opportunity in the Scottish economy.

And, in a rapidly changing world, I think we have got to concentrate on three things: Create the conditions for investment, supporting innovation and developing the talent of our people.

Creating the conditions for investment starts with confidence. Confidence in our energy future. Confidence in our industrial base. Confidence that projects can move from proposal to delivery. And confidence that we can all play our part, as Charandeep invited us to do, to make sure that Scotland is the best place to do business.

Creating the conditions for investment means strengthening the networks that help businesses reach new markets and to seize new opportunities.

And that is why our partnership with the Scottish Chambers of Commerce matters.

Through the International Trade Partnership, we have worked together to support Scottish companies as they take their first steps into international markets, delivering more than 140 trade missions, helping over 1,600 new exporters and generating more than £110 million in forecast exports.

It is testament to what is possible when government and business work together hand-in-hand.

And that is why we continue to invest in that partnership, why I was pleased to announce in India a further half a million pounds in this venture to make sure that the Chambers of Commerce can support businesses to reach new markets, to seize new opportunities and to underpin the networks that will support growth.

That is a vital part of the efforts that we must take forward. But we have also got to make investment happen quicker and faster and sharper within Scotland as part of this endeavour.

Which is why the government is creating a Major Projects Office to remove the obstacles which too often get in the way of making things happen within infrastructure projects and other major economic developments.

We start from a position of strength. Scotland has, for the last eleven years, been the UK's leading destination for foreign direct investment outside London.

But we need to do more. We need to make it easier to invest in Scotland. And the steps the government is taking with the Major Projects Office, with the acceptance of the Investment Panel’s actions and the implementation of those actions, is making Scotland an easier place to invest in.

And we have to make it easier, also, to enable developments locally. So the National Planning Hub is designed also to speed up planning decisions and to remove the obstacles that can so often get in the way of development.

But investment alone is not enough. We’ve got to be able to innovate, which is my second major priority.

To develop new technologies. To commercialise research. And to create the businesses that will drive the next generation of economic growth.

I’ve been delighted to see the progress that has been made in the Techscaler programme, where we have built a community of more than 2,800 members, supporting over 2,300 businesses in Scotland.

Businesses that have collectively raised hundreds of millions of pounds in investment as a consequence of the seedcorn support that has been given through the Techscaler programme.  

So we want to build on that success over the course of the next Parliament, to deliver for more business, and across a wider range of sectors. 

So my message to investors, entrepreneurs and innovators is clear: Scotland wants to be one of the leading entrepreneurial nations in Europe, and we have the capacity and the capability to do that.

With the talent that we have in our economic systems and also with the tremendous asset of our universities and our colleges in Scotland.

But innovation on its own is not enough either.

None of what we want to achieve can happen without skills. Without talent. Without people. And developing that talent is critical to Scotland's future success.

We need engineers, technicians, software developers, data scientists, skilled tradespeople, who will build the industries of the future.

Global companies choose Scotland because of the strengths that all of you in this room help to create and to sustain: a highly skilled workforce, world-class colleges and universities, abundant natural resources, and, despite the cost of living challenges we are facing, a high quality of life.

But one of the best investments you can make as a country is in our people.

So we will provide around £198 million annually to support approximately 25,500 new modern apprenticeships and for those already in training.

We provide 5,000 new foundation apprenticeships, 1,500 new graduate apprenticeships; and we are committed to expanding opportunities for young people and helping employers to develop the workforce they need.

Over this parliamentary term, I want us to deliver 150,000 apprenticeships to ensure that we meet the skills needs of our population. And create the opportunities for young people, whatever their background, to be able to find fulfilling careers in the business community and working life within Scotland.

So if we are able to work together, as we demonstrated in so many of our partnerships that we take forward and that common agenda, I invite the Chambers of Commerce to work with the government to find the common ground, find the priorities that will enable us to realise the opportunities that are before us.  

We are in challenging days. I am very focussed on what we can take forward in the Budget to build on the Programme for Government that was set out to Parliament in September.

That programme puts central to the government’s agenda the pursuit of economic growth. The removal of obstacles to the doing of business in Scotland. The removal of barriers to enabling us to reach our full potential.

That is the mentality that lies at the heart of the Scottish Government. And it is an outlook and an attitude which is taken forward by my ministers, many of whom are here tonight, to engage with the business community. To ensure that your views, your aspirations, your ideas, your proposals can be at the heart of the decision-making of government.

Because if we do that, we will be able to build a strong and effective partnership that will create the opportunities that will transform the lives of people in Scotland and make our country the best place to do business.