Business confidence on the up say FSB

The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland has reported a second quarter of rising business confidence.

The group’s Scottish business sentiment metric remained in negative territory but climbed to -3.8 in the three-month period.

The improved outcome still leaves Scotland lagging behind the wider UK picture, where a metric of +15 was recorded.

“A majority of Scottish businesses have been gloomy about their prospects for two years,” FSB Scottish policy convener Andy Willox said.

“While, over the course of 2017 a growing share of Scottish firms have shaken off the economic blues, we can’t dismiss this long-term trend.

“While the health of our local economies hardly featured during the general election campaign, it can’t be forgotten about by our politicians.

“In the short term, the new government needs to quash concerns over the future of EU workers and the possible reintroduction of plans to hike self-employed National Insurance Contributions.

“Small business owners and the self-employed risk everything to create economic activity, jobs and revenues.

“If we’re to turn these shaky confidence figures around in the longer term, we need to create an environment where more people are ready to take that plunge.”

Andy Willox of FSB Scotland.