Protect the interests of workers, not every industry and job

Responding to the recent UK Budget, the First Minister bemoaned the inability of Westminster to "protect Scottish industry and jobs", and other Scottish government ministers used similar language in debates around the announcement of Mossmorran’s closure.

A couple of weeks later, Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, justified the UK government’s £120 million contribution to a five-year deal with Ineos to retain ethylene production at Grangemouth on the basis that it would "protect" 500 jobs.

Strikingly, in a recent parliamentary exchange about the oil and gas industry, Russell Findlay MSP, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, offered the First Minister the votes necessary to "protect thousands of Scottish jobs".

There seems to be a broad political consensus that "protecting" Scottish jobs and industries is a legitimate and desirable objective for government at all levels. This begs fundamental questions about economic development strategy in Scotland: is it possible for the Scottish and/or UK governments to protect Scottish jobs and industries? And, if so, when does it make sense to try to do so?

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Protection is a loaded word in economics. In many ways 2025 was the year when it became front and centre of debate.

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