Cash is key to avoid a bleak midwinter
IF there is one thing 2020 has proved, it is the old saying that change is the only constant.
Perhaps, if you have been stuck in the same four walls of the home office on end-to-end video calls for most of the year, you may think a little change would be welcome.
But make no doubt about it. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the commencement of an altogether different relationship with the European Union will have repercussions for months and years to come.
The next few weeks bring particular challenges, with the latest lockdown making the bleak midwinter bleaker still.
I’m sad to say that for some more businesses, these latest rounds of restrictions will be their final one, with all that entails for their employees, their families and their suppliers.
This is why the Scottish Chambers of Commerce is urging the Scottish Government to get behind a comprehensive package of support, one that will ensure businesses can preserve as many jobs as is possible as we embark on 2021.
Existing support has been welcome but, with the challenges we now face, it is no longer sufficient. Businesses need meaningful not piecemeal plans, to ensure cash gets to where it is needed immediately.
Government in Scotland and Westminster needs to set out an approach that provides more stability and clarity for business.
We need to know that government is committed to reopening the economy as well as keeping us all safe from the threats of the virus.
As soon as data are available, governments must set out when businesses can be expected to return to trading so that they can once again have the confidence to reopen.
Of course, government must act on public health concerns. But for the hardhit retail, hospitality and tourism sectors we need a growth strategy with a vision on a level we have not seen before.
Our city and town centres face huge challenges without office workers or retailers and hospitality venues.
If we do not take charge of changes affecting our urban and rural centres, we risk seeing change in the form of serious decline.
There have been many attempts to redesign and reimagine place – some more successful than others.
For retail in particular, those who invest in giving shoppers an experience will continue to attract customers.
Meanwhile developers and those supporting regeneration should focus on creating flexible, affordable spaces for smaller retailers which will provide a boon for the army of entrepreneurs we have in this sector – and which will also draw in people and tourists.
We need to sit down together and plan what our future might look like.
So many times during the pandemic we remained unconvinced that the urgency of the need to pay our rents and other costs is fully understood by our political leaders. Greater dialogue channelled through Scotland’s 30 chambers of commerce offers a ground-up approach to the recovery that means no one who is part of the solution would be left behind.
Adaptability is the key to managing the sort of changes that have befallen our lives this year.
We have seen businesses in Scotland adapt and change.
A recent report by Visitscotland, which supports the tourism sector, found examples of companies targeting new markets or new ways to sell products.
Those that have found the will and the way to do so are still here in some form or another as the old year ends and the new one begins. What we need now is to ensure they continue to survive until they get the chance once again to thrive.