SNP should realise business knows best

THIS Holyrood election campaign has been dominated by parties declaring how much more they’d spend if handed the keys to Bute House and unveiling tax increases to fund their profligacy.

It underscores – with the honourable exception of the Tories, committed to keeping taxes as low as possible – the parties’ inability to grasp what the economy and business is about.

Scotland’s economy is flat-lining and taxing workers more and treating companies as cash cows is a disaster.

In a dramatic intervention, five leading business organisations have rounded on the SNP, which is embarking on a £60million tax sting on some of the country’s largest and most important companies.

They face higher business rates than firms in similar premises in England – a hindrance that risks jobs.

At this dangerous time for firms, where margins are tight and overheads are rising, politicians should be offering help.

It is terrifying how short-sighted the SNP is, saddling businesses with a competitive disadvantage.

Of course, the SNP doesn’t comprehend business. Its ranks are packed with people who have spent their lives in the politics bubble, insulated from the problems business people tackle daily.

The Nationalists seem to think all companies are dripping roasts, replete with cash they can plunder.

The gulf between that and reality is jawdropping. A glance down any Scottish High Street, where boarded-up shops abound, is an ominous portent.

As Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, says: ‘This additional tax affects a wide range of businesses, including shops, offices, factories and hotels, for whom an increase in their fixed costs is the last thing they need at the moment.’

The five bodies represent more than 12,000 companies. Their warnings should be heeded, not treated with the usual disdain the SNP reserves for anyone who dares criticise it.