Barrie Cunning gives the background to the Scotland 2050, and reveals key details of next year’s event
As the Scotland 2050 conference enters its third year, it is an absolute privilege to announce that the next Scotland 2050 conference will take place on the 8 June 2027 at the Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh.
We are also delighted to announce that our keynote speakers for next year’s Scotland 2050 conference are Scottish business tycoon and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter, Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Michael Marra, keader of the Scottish Labour Party, Alex Cole Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and Harriett Cross , Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister for Energy and Net Zero.
We will be announcing more speakers and panellists over the coming weeks and months, but to be part of the conversation about Scotland’s future and to secure your free ticket, please go to www.scotland-2050.co.uk.
Recently I was asked why I started the Scotland 2050 conference, where it came from and why do I do it? This is a question I get asked a lot, but in short, I believe in Scotland’s people and our potential to succeed. But to do that we need to tackle the issues affecting Scotland today for a better tomorrow as well as securing new opportunities for Scotland. My journey to date regarding Scotland 2050 has been an interesting one.
I had a funder in place for the first conference and three months before the conference was due to go ahead, that funding was pulled. I faced an immediate dilemma. Sat against a backdrop of getting married in four weeks’ time after being told this, do I keep calm and carry on or call it day?
My gut instinct was to go for it and continue as I passionately believe that everyone irrespective of background or status should be part of the conversation about Scotland’s future and thankfully my fiancée, now wife, Hannah, supported me in this endeavour and still does to this day.
Like many people, I share the same frustration often associated with short term politics. The political game playing, one upmanship and the theatrics in the chamber, but what really frustrates me is that the short-termism of politics breeds a culture of antagonism and one-dimensional thinking between political parties.
I have seen it first-hand, the first question asked is how our political opponents will react to what we are proposing as opposed to here is our policy position and how can we work together on this to take it through the parliamentary process to ensure that we are delivering for the people of Scotland.
For example, we all know we need more hospitals in Scotland, so let’s start from that position and agree a way forward and deliver it within this parliamentary term. The same can be said about Scotland’s economy, we all agree that we need to support start-ups and scale up businesses, so let’s do something to harness and nurture that talent and look to create a plan for a future resilient Scottish economy.
These are just two examples of the issues affecting Scotland that we need to examine and consider how best to address them today for a better tomorrow. The same can be said about education, skills, investment, connectivity et al. Going back to our first principles, at Scotland 2050 we believe that we need a cross-party long-term plan to tackle the issues and challenges facing Scotland today for a better tomorrow.
I believe that we can achieve more by working together and building real political consensus. It’s the people of Scotland that will ultimately benefit from this positive collaborative working arrangement.
Dubbed as the “McDavos of Scotland” Scotland 2050 asks the question of where we want Scotland to be by 2050. Unlike other events of this nature, I have intentionally made Scotland 2050 a free ticketed event as I believe that everyone should be part of the conversation about Scotland’s future.
The last two conferences have looked at some of the most critical issues affecting Scotland today such as energy, housing, the economy, renewables and healthcare and we have had keynote speeches from Mr Cole Hamilton, First Minister John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform Ivan McKee, Cherie Blair, Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Kate Forbes, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland.
The reality is that short term adversarial politics is limited in scope and it’s the people of Scotland that will ultimately lose out. There is no denying that there will always be tensions between political parties as they compete to demonstrate that they have the answers to some of Scotland’s most pressing issues
Scotland 2050 is shaping up to become much more than Scotland’s leading one day conference that brings together people from the world of business, politics and civic society.
Since we launched in 2025, we held the Scotland 2050 hustings in the run up to the Scottish Parliament election at the Assembly Rooms which over 550 people attended, issued the Scotland 2050 manifesto which was sent to all MSPs both digitally and in print and most recently we issued a letter to the UK Treasury ahead of the Budget in which we had seven key asks. All of which you can access from the Scotland 2050 website www.scotland-2050.co.uk.
Barrie Cunning is the Founder of Scotland 2050, which is supported by The Scotsman, and the managing director of Pentland Communications