LABOUR has accused the Scottish government of a “dereliction of duty” after revealing that just 100,000 jobs were supported by multibillion-pound government procurement contracts during the coronavirus crisis.

Data obtained by the party in Scotland show that public procurement generates around £10 billion of economic activity north of the border, contributing £6bn to Scottish GDP.

Despite this, the Scottish Procurement Annual Report showed that the expenditure supported just 100,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

Analysis by the party found that, despite the £10bn of contracts, less than 1 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefited from procurement spend.

Total spend on SMEs equates only to an estimated 8 per cent of the total expenditure of Scottish public-sector bodies. 

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard hit out at First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, accusing the government of a “gross failure” on job creation and use of taxpayers’ money which had left Scotland in a “severely weakened” position during the Covid economic crisis.

He reiterated calls for a jobs-guarantee scheme in Scotland that would “protect livelihoods and stimulate growth.”

Mr Leonard said: “With Scotland facing its worst unemployment crisis since the height of Thatcherism in the 1980s, this is a gross failure by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

“Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP government have handed billions of pounds of public money over to contracts, with little job creation and SME support in return. Scotland can ill afford this dereliction of duty by the SNP.”

The Scottish government described the criticism as “simply untrue and not supported by the facts,” adding that it is doing a huge amount to support SMEs. 

A spokesman added that SMEs received £5.2bn of Scottish public-sector contracts in 2018-19.