Businesses fed up with Indyref threats order SNP to ‘get on with the day job’
BUSINESS leaders have urged Nicola Sturgeon to scrap plans for a second independence vote, claiming she is putting her dream of separation ahead of ‘the people as a whole’.
Les Montgomery, chief executive of Highland Spring, said company bosses are ‘fed up’ with the First Minister’s continued threats to break up Britain.
In a rare intervention from one of the country’s top firms, he said that instead of creating grievances with the UK Government Miss Sturgeon and her team must work with ministers to secure a good Brexit deal.
Other leading business organisations have warned that the SNP leader must rule out another divisive vote and tackle soaring business rates because Scotland is on the brink of recession.
Yesterday, Mr Montgomery said: ‘Businesses are fed up. The Scottish Government should be getting on with the job they are there to do. Focusing on employment, investment, those kinds of things.
‘Independence isn’t the job the Scottish Government is supposed to be doing.’
He added: ‘I am responsible for 600 people and I am trying to do the best for them.
‘I would think the Scottish Government should also try to do the best for the people as a whole.’
Mr Montgomery claimed leaving the UK would affect the bottled water firm, saying: ‘We’re based in Scotland but we’re a British company. We send 85 per cent of our products to England and we are fortunate to consider “local” to mean “British”. That’s how it should be.’
Highland Spring bottles more than 500million litres of water a year. The firm had revenues of £103million and pre-tax profits of £4.3million in the year ending December 31, 2015.
Mr Montgomery does not believe leaving the EU will harm the firm as only 3 per cent of its product is sold overseas.
He said: ‘What we and the wider industry need is for the UK and devolved governments to continue working together, swiftly and decisively, to bring clarity to key questions for businesses as the Brexit process continues.’
Ross Thomson, Conservative MP for Aberdeen South, said: ‘It is rare for a leading business figure in Scotland to put their head effect of her referendum threats and soaring business rates, while experts at the respected Fraser of Allander Institute last week claimed the SNP could not blame Brexit for the weak economy.
David Watt, of the Institute of Directors, said: ‘When governments cause uncertainty, they don’t make business life easier.’
CBI Scotland director Hugh Aitken said: ‘The Scottish Government’s focus must be on measures to enhance productivity and boost the economy, including prioritising fast-tracking business rates reform.’
Yesterday, Scottish Labour economy spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Businesses are tired of the SNP Government’s obsession with independence and the damage the uncertainty of another referendum is doing to our economy.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are fully committed to fighting to retain our place in the single market and working hard to mitigate the damage from EU withdrawal.
‘Scotland voted overwhelmingly against leaving Europe and the country should still have a choice on its future at the end of the Brexit process, once the terms of the deal are known.’
‘Focus on jobs, investment’