From a Scottish perspective, Tesla and SpaceX leader Elon Musk looks to have hit a bum note with his musings about the propensity of companies to invest here.

His comments came in response to the Alba Party’s call for Mr Musk - who has thrown in his lot with incoming US president Donald Trump - to build a Tesla “gigafactory” in Scotland.

Such an investment would undoubtedly be a major boost for Scotland’s economy.

Mr Musk is obviously in control of his own businesses so his comments that “very few companies” would be willing to invest in the UK “with the current [Labour] administration” would indicate there will be no gigafactory for electric car maker Tesla coming to Scotland.

That said, even before the Alba Party raised the matter in the first place, there was probably no real prospect of such a development.

What is more interesting is to consider the extent to which Mr Musk’s comments hold water in a Scottish context.

Obviously Scotland, like Wales and Northern Ireland, is different from the rest of the UK in having a devolved administration. However, it is part of the UK, so Mr Musk’s comments presumably apply to it.

There is no doubt the UK economy is in fairly grim shape.

However, while Labour has hardly inspired confidence it is going to deliver a step-change in the UK’s prospects, we must remember that it was the Conservatives who brought us to this sorry state of affairs with some terrible management of the economy.

It is also worth bearing in mind that the one thing that........

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