‘Lead, don’t bicker’, Hunter tells politicians

Scotland’s politicians need to change their mindset in the wake of the independence referendum, according to entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.
Speaking to an audience of business leaders and councillors at Fife College to mark the birthday of historical philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, Hunter accused politicians of trying to “bribe” Scotland during the referendum campaign, but said the country had been inspired.
“I believe our nation wants positive change. Carnegie would not want, and nor do we, one in five of our children living in poverty. We don’t want food banks opening two every week, homelessness growing by the day. This is supposed to be a modern society. It’s just not good enough for me; it shouldn’t be good enough for you, and certainly not good enough for Scotland. We need to move off the philosophy of blame and onto a culture of innovation. We need to stop applying the sticking plaster to the intransigent societal problems and onto delivering lasting sustainable solutions. Our politicians need to lead, not bicker, innovate, not retrench their historic dogmatism.”
Business growth is the only way to pay for a civil society, he argued. “It’s my belief in Scotland we can and will innovate our way out of the conditions we face today, however to do so, we need a different mindset,” he said.
He also challenged charities and NGOs to share the goal of his own Hunter Foundation, which is to make themselves redundant. “Not long ago, we were approached by a well-known charity whose aim was to expand the food bank network across Scotland and make it more efficient, while dramatically increasing their own headcount. Our response was quite simple: come back with a plan of how to eradicate food banks and we’ll listen,” he said.
The speech opened Dunfermline’s second Carnegie Day, celebrating the town’s famous son, hosted by Fife College, with Visit Dunfermline and the history festival, Previously… 
Seventeen-year-old Pippa Harrison, who was recently awarded a George Lauder Bursary from Fife College to enable study in America, presented Hunter with a scarf made from the peace tartan.