A call has been made for an economic coalition between political leaders and business to rebuild Scotland's economy.

It came last night from the president of Scottish Chambers of Commerce, Stephen Leckie, at the chambers annual Scottish Business Address in Glasgow.

He said: "I urge the First Minister and Prime Minister to forge an economic coalition with the business community and place the economy, business and jobs to the top of the political agenda.

"We want more investment in Scotland, we want more businesses to be here, and for people to be attracted to come and live here.

"We want it to be a known fact that Scotland is one of the best places in the world to do business. It hasn't always felt like that in recent years. We must restore it."

Mr Leckie stated that the Scottish business community focuses on growth, competitiveness and global outlook.

Essential ingredients

He went on: "We believe these are essential ingredients for Scotland's success. We have seen how business and governments have rallied together throughout the pandemic and this serves as a blueprint for future collaboration between private and public sector.

"In an increasingly-polarised world, we must build on this platform as a mechanism to inform and influence joint policy-making and impacts.

"Governments cannot drive growth or create value alone, nor can businesses. Our message to all Governments is to view business as partners; invest in us, work with us and support us."

Mr Leckie said the cost-of-living crisis had switched to a cost-of-doing-business crisis.

He explained: "For months now, businesses have been experiencing huge increases in input costs and our request to government is that businesses cannot reach for the ambition which I know they so passionately believe in without government intervention north and south of the border."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was among the speakers last night.

Vital work

Earlier in the day, she praised the vital work of the chambers network across Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon added: "We know that a successful business sector is essential to our aspirations for our fairer, greener and more resilient country - and the Scottish Government will continue doing everything we can to support that sector.

"We will continue to call on the Treasury to provide more effective support during the current cost crisis, and we will get on with delivering our national strategy for economic transformation.

"The Scottish Government remains committed to listening to and working with businesses and business organisations across the country. We value their expertise, and we understand how committed they are - not just to their own businesses, but to the communities that they are part of."

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