SNP under fresh pressure on rates ...from Salmond!

ALEX Salmond has joined the chorus of criticism around business rate hikes, heaping further pressure on the Scottish Government.

The former SNP First Minister admitted some complaints about massive tax hikes were ‘legitimate’. And he said many businesses, particularly in the North-east, are ‘feeling the hard edge’ of the revaluation.

Many companies have seen their rates double or treble, and fear being forced out of business by rising costs.

In a video blog for a local newspaper, Mr Salmond said the Scottish Government deserved some credit for the ‘small business bonus’, which had exempted many companies from paying anything at all.

But, as Finance Secretary Derek Mackay faces growing calls to review the rates rise, Mr Salmond, MP for Gordon, admitted some firms were right to complain.

‘Of course there’s an argument against some of the rates rises,’ he said. ‘Of course people are feeling the hard edge of it and in the North-east of Scotland there’s a very legitimate case because of the date of estimation – when independent valuation officers made their assessment and when, because of oil, the economy was much stronger than it is now. That’s why I welcome the Aberdeenshire Council initiative to put £3 million into rate relief to try and take some of the edge off the hardest cases.’

The business rates revaluation is the first since 2010. The amount firms must pay is determined by land and property value. However, assessors visited the North-east in 2015, when the oil crash was just starting to bite. Since then Aberdeen and the surrounding area has faced two years of depression and critics say the new business rates are too high as a result.

New Scottish Government figures, released through a parliamentary question, show 62 per cent of Aberdeen firms face a rise, the highest of any local authority area. But Mr Salmond insisted it would not have been possible to carry out such a widescale revaluation without causing uproar somewhere.

There has been a similar outcry at a separate rates revaluation south of the Border.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe joined the attack on business rates last night, slamming the system as ‘archaic’ and not fit for the modern era.

And political opponents and businesses warned the Scottish Government can no longer ignore the rising opposition to the tax hikes in Scotland.

Murdo Fraser, Scots Tory finance spokesman, said: ‘Alex Salmond says there is a legitimate case for action. If Derek Mackay won’t listen to thousands of affected firms, perhaps he will listen to his former boss. Nicola Sturgeon must now step in to sort this out.’

But the Scottish Government insisted there was no disagreement between Mr Salmond and his former Cabinet colleagues. A spokesman for Mr Mackay agreed some North-east firms face a challenge, which was why the Government had worked with councils on schemes to support those businesses.