John Swinney and Kate Forbes set for last joint engagement

First Minister John Swinney and his deputy first minister are to announce what is described as a multimillion-pound investment in Scotland on their last joint visit together.

Both Swinney and Kate Forbes, who is stepping down from Holyrood at the upcoming election, will be in Ayrshire on Friday for the event.

Speaking before that the deputy First Minister said: “Ending my time in Scottish Government with this exciting announcement shows that our aim to work better, smarter and faster to create an investor-friendly environment has reaped rewards, bringing a multitude of benefits to communities across Scotland.”

Friday’s event comes in the wake of the First Minister announcing 2,000 jobs in the south of Scotland earlier this week.

And Forbes stressed that “creating the economic conditions to attract major investment and jobs across key sectors” had been a “priority” for the Government.

With her role also including the post of economy secretary, Forbes said she had “worked hard to deliver on that”.

And she said during her time in Government she had “overseen some major investments”, with these including the £350 million Sumitomo subsea cable factory in the Highlands.

Forbes added: “Scotland has maintained its excellent track record as the top performing UK region for inward investment projects outside of London for 10 years running.

“We have huge economic strengths – from being at the forefront of the energy transition to rapidly emerging cutting-edge technologies – and we are working as hard as we can to bring further investment and deliver more high-quality jobs.”