Peston and Mackay headline conference on Scotland’s post-Brexit future

Robert Peston

Broadcaster Robert Peston and Scotland’s Finance Minister Derek Mackay will be joined by Dame Vivian Hunt, managing partner at McKinsey and Dr Peter Wittig, German Ambassador to the UK, to discuss routes to productivity for Scotland’s next phase of growth.

All will be taking part in the Scottish Council for Development and Industry’s 48th annual forum which takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on the 25th and 26th April.

“Brexit is an immediate threat to the Scottish economy, and we will face significant challenge if current rules on trade and freedom of movement change,” says Ian Wall, chairman of the SCDI.

“But at the same time the whole world faces enormous economic, social, and ecological challenges and it is increasingly evident that economies and businesses that advance and embrace people, technology and the planet, as a whole, are increasing their productivity and growth,” Wall says.

“This conference is an opportunity not just to listen but to help shape the debate. Scotland has many strengths – including a highly educated workforce – and this conference will focus on how we build on the foundations of economic growth and turn the environmental, demographic, mobility, educational and technological challenges that Scotland currently faces into clear economic opportunities for our future,” Wall concludes.

The event will bring together all sectors of the Scottish economy and other speakers include Carlos de Palacio, President of TALGO, which is planning a new factory at Longannet to manufacture trains which would create up to 1,000 jobs.

Speakers at the two-day event include:

• Katie Milligan, Managing Director, Customer, Commercial and Propositions, Openreach
• David Reid, Vice President, Buildings & Infrastructure, Europe, Jacobs
• Nora Senior CBE, Chair, Scottish Government’s Strategic Board for Enterprise and Skills
• Andrew Murphy, Chief Information Officer, The John Lewis Partnership
• Dame Susan Rice DBE, President of SCDI
• Dr Walter Stahel, Founder & Director, Product-Life Institute, Geneva
• Dame Vivian Hunt DBE, Managing Partner, UK and Ireland, McKinsey & Company
• Chris Gaffney, Group Finance Director, Johnstons of Elgin
• Derek Mackay MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Finance and Fair Work,
• Scottish Government
• David Mundell MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, UK Government