Irvine calls for faster-paced procurement procedure
Revered public relations man Jack Irvine has called on the Scottish Government to lead the way in speeding up the procurement process to help lift the economy.
“I believe, in terms of business, we should be adopting a war-like strategy,” Irvine, executive chairman of Media House, told The Drum.
“When I visited an air-craft carrier in Los Angeles it was the biggest ship I’d ever been on in my life, but it was built in around 80 days. Ships take years to build now. I think business in Scotland should take this approach. Instead of taking months to go through procurement to award contracts, we should be tearing all this shit up and if someone needs PR then just do it. Get on with it. Pretend we’re at war.”
He continued: “The planning laws in Scotland take forever to get through too. Let’s get out sleeves rolled up and get beasted in. That would give a lift to the financial sector, to business and to property which would be enormous and I’d like to see that leadership coming from Edinburgh.”
When asked whether he believed Scotland could regain its once respected financial stature following the recent collapses of its financial sector, Irvine said that he felt it was now a "fast moving world" and that the country would move on from the recent troubles.
He also said that following all the negative press aimed at Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, that he was beginning to detect sympathy towards him.
“He’s being put up as the fall guy and if you keep going on about such a guy being a hate figure, members of the population will turn around and say 'hang on a minute, you can’t blame one guy for this. It’s crazy.' I’m a very optimistic person and I do believe we can rebuild.”