£200m business fund spent just £1m

The SNP government has spent just £1million out of a £200million fund to help Scottish businesses announced more than a year ago.

Iain Scott, the chief financial officer of Scottish Enterprise, admitted to the economy committee that just one deal had been concluded since the Scottish-european growth coinvestment programme was announced by Nicola Sturgeon. The fund’s stated aim is to help “businesses in all areas of Scotland looking for equity investment to meet their growth ambitions”.

Scottish Labour said the fact that only one deal had been done showed the SNP’S plans for the economy were “just spin, not substance,” and warned that, with Brexit fast approaching, more needed to be done to protect Scottish business.

Scottish Labour’s economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “This is a startling revelation.

“Once again, the SNP’S high-profile announcements on the economy are shown to be just spin, not substance. With Brexit creating unprecedented challenges for the Scottish economy, it is essential that the SNP government is doing everything possible to support business and increase investment.”