Alister Jack – 2021 Comments on October 2021 GDP Figures for Scotland

The comments made by Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, on 22 December 2021.

Our focus is on a strong, sustainable recovery, particularly as we face new challenges from the Omicron variant. That’s why this week we doubled the amount of additional funding available to the Scottish Government to tackle Omicron to £440m – and that’s in addition to the record £41 billion per year funding settlement set out in October for the next three years.

The hugely successful UK Government-funded vaccine and booster programme has never been more important and I’d urge everyone to get their jabs when eligible.

Helping people back to work is crucial and our Plan for Jobs is working. We’re also investing £191million in projects at the heart of communities across Scotland from three major Levelling Up funds and £1.5billion is going into Growth Deals from Shetland to Selkirk. Building back better and stronger is our priority.