Writing in today's Scottish Daily Mail & East Lothian News, Association Chairman Tim Jackson notes that the SNP's employment policy is causing Scotland to lag far behind the rest of the UK.
"Unsurprisingly, at the recent SNP conference there was little mention of the latest employment statistics which show the that Scotland is lagging behind the rest of the UK when it comes to getting more people in to work.
"Between June & August, Scotland's jobless total increased by 18,000 and is now 170,000. Meanwhile, employment in Scotland fell by 6,000 with the Scottish jobless rate now standing at 6.1 per cent compared with 5.4 per cent for the rest of the UK. In the rest of the UK unemployment has fallen 79,000 over the same period, resulting in the lowest unemployment figures for six years.
"Typically, yet again the SNP blames Westminster for the depressing Scottish figures. However, the responsibility for this increasing divergence in performance between Scotland and the rest of the UK lies squarely at the door of the SNP Government which has pressed ahead with measures which so obviously have failed not just in Scotland but in other comparable economies. This is yet another disturbing example of the SNP's incompetence and a further indictment of its record in Government. It is high time that the SNP admits that its employment policies are not working and instead follows those successfully being pursued in the rest of the UK by George Osborne as part of the Conservative Party's long term economic plan. If they don't, even more Scots will be out of work."