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Unemployment higher than UK average and economic growth weak as firm whose drink lent name to financial plan enters administration
Alex Salmond's claims that the Scottish government has a superior economic strategy have taken a dent after fresh evidence showed weak growth and higher unemployment than the rest of the UK.
In September, the first minister argued that his "Plan MacB" strategy of defending the public sector and heavy investment in capital projects had protected the economy more successfully than the UK government's tougher tactics of cutting public sector debt and spending.
But amid poor economic figures published on Wednesday, it emerged that the drinks firm Sangs – which sells the macb flavoured water that Salmond cited for his plan – has been put into administration by its bank.
Kenny Webster, the owner of Sangs, said he was furious at the decision by the Allied Irish bank. He said it was still profitable and had "no cashflow issue".
The administrators, Zolfo Cooper, said the 116-year-old business would continue trading while they tried to restructure it or find a buyer, but it had been "experiencing cashflow problems due to today's extremely challenging trading environment".
Sangs is based in Salmond's Banffshire constituency and employs around 60 people there and in South Lanarkshire.
After relatively positive figures last year, Scotland's unemployment rate is now higher than the UK average of 8.4%, reaching 231,000 or 8.6%, according to the latest quarterly figures.
The number of women unemployed rose fastest – up by 21,000 in the last three months – a trend blamed by the accountants KPMG on deepening cuts in public sector jobs. The number of people under 24 claiming jobseeker's allowance climbed by 123% in the last year, Labour said.
Overall growth in the Scottish economy has been weaker over the last five quarters than that of the UK as a whole. It matched the UK's growth at 0.5% in the last three months of 2011 (pdf), but has underperformed compared to the UK for three of the last five quarters.
The service sector grew by 0.9%, but the construction industry, cited by Salmond as one of his main concerns, contracted by 1.2% in the months before Christmas.
Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, said Scotland was "in the grip of a national crisis".
"We face a toxic mix of unemployment and low growth in Scotland," she said. "This needs a crisis response from the Scottish government. Behind every statistic is a person suffering the indignity of unemployment and a family coping with loss of their income.
"Alex Salmond's economic strategy isn't working and, as a result, Scotland risks being pushed into a vicious cycle of low growth and high unemployment, with all the social misery that goes with fear of recession."
Grahame Smith, the general secretary of the Scottish TUC, said its analysis suggested there was a serious "full-time employment deficit" in Scotland, with at least 500,000 people unable to get full-time jobs. "The recent rise in Scottish unemployment is as dramatic as it is shocking," he added.
John Swinney, the Scottish finance secretary, said Plan MacB had not been knocked off track by the new figures because unemployment levels were still better than in many other parts of the UK, such as Wales, London, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the north-east and north-west of England.
Swinney said the growth statistics were Scotland's best since the summer of 2010, adding that manufacturing exports grew by 0.2% late last year. He said the figures proved the need for greater efforts to build the economy, and again called for a UK-wide jobs summit to promote growth and employment.
He said Scotland needed greater control over economic policy to improve its economy, adding: "Only with access to all the levers of economic growth can we maximise Scotland's potential to secure new investment and jobs, which is why we will publish our consultation document next week for people to discuss the terms for Scotland's independence referendum.
"In the meantime, we urge the Westminster government to follow the Scottish example, embrace a Plan MacB approach for the UK economy and work with the three devolved administrations through a jobs summit to agree an immediate programme of employment creation."
Liz Cameron, the chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said the figures did not yet reflect the full damage caused by the eurozone crisis.
Its data showed that was a "very difficult time" for many businesses, she said, but added that the growth figures showed that the Scottish economy "remains geared for strong expansion".