Michael Marra will call for skills policy to be devolved to Scotland’s regions and warn against further centralisation and cuts as part of the SNP’s proposed local government reorganisation.

Speaking to UK Labour conference in Liverpool, Marra will further his case for a new generation of devolution deals to redistribute power, wealth and opportunity across Scotland.

It follows analysis suggesting if Scotland’s regions had Manchester’s rate of growth in the last decade, Scotland’s economy would be £30billion larger.

Marra will argue that skills policy centralised in Edinburgh has failed Scottish regions, with employers reporting skills gaps.

The North East MSP will also warn that the SNP’s proposals for local government reorganisation will not devolve further powers down from Holyrood and could centralise control more.

Addressing UK Labour conference in Liverpool, Michael Marra is expected to say:

“Too much power is centralised in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament has hoarded money and control at the expense of Scotland’s communities.

“Had our regions grown at the same pace as Manchester in the last decade, the Scottish economy would be £30 billion larger.

“That’s the cost of the centralisation agenda. And the SNP are coming for more, proposing a reorganisation of local government that appears to centralise control and doesn’t devolve a single new power.

“I want to see a new generation of Devolution Deals for Scotland.

“Power and money in the hands of local people to grow their own economy.

“And the best place for to start is skills. Scotland faces a skills shortage crisis. Half of employers in Scotland report a skills shortage meanwhile funding for apprenticeships has fallen.

“We have welders from the Philippines and South Africa working on the next generation of Scottish warships because not enough Scottish workers have the skills.

“What a staggering failure of Holyrood’s centralised skills policy. We haven’t trained enough Scots to work in shipbuilding.

“Shipbuilding! Scotland is famous for it. We’re world class at it. There should be a sense of national pride that the ships being built in Scotland are providing opportunity and security for Scottish workers.

“So my message to Bute House is put control and money in the hands of the councils, colleges and industries who know what their local economies need better than any bureaucrat in Edinburgh.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Skills shortages hit half of all Scottish employers: https://university.open.ac.uk/scotland/news/skills-shortages-hit-half-all-scottish-employers

Babcock turns to overseas welders amid Scottish skills gap: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/babcock-turns-to-overseas-welders-amid-scottish-skills-gap/

Glasgow City Region, whose cabinet was chaired by the then SNP leader of Glasgow City council Susan Aitken, pushed for greater devolved powers including skills: https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/26484545.glasgow-city-region-pushed-greater-devolved-powers/

The Our Scottish Future think tank has called for skills devolution as part of a regional devolution agenda: https://ourscottishfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Wider-Deeper-Further-Faster-Devolution-within-Scotland.pdf