It’s vital... jobs and lives are at stake

AN incredible £41 billion a year, for at least three years. That is the record-breaking level of funding that Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered for Scotland in his Budget in October – and that is what Kate Forbes, the Scottish Finance Secretary, has got to play with in her own Budget calculations this week.

It’s a good start. The Chancellor’s Budget has provided Scotland with the largest ever annual block grant since devolution – and an extra £4.6 billion in funding for public services. It means that, from April next year, the Scottish Government will receive about £126 per Scot – compared with £100 spent per person in England.

The UK Government support has given Scotland exactly what we need to kick-start our recovery in 2022. We now have a chance to rebuild our struggling public services and support our economy to bounce back stronger from the devastating effects of the pandemic. But we must make the most of this opportunity.

Unfortunately, the SNP’s appalling record on the economy over many years will leave Scots rightly concerned about what will be brought forward.

The Nationalists’ coalition with the openly anti-growth Greens has already had a harmful effect on Scottish businesses.

Indeed, Patrick Harvie, the Scots Greens co-leader and now a government Minister, actually celebrated the huge blow of Shell pulling out of the Cambo oil field project, which could risk hundreds of Scottish jobs.

That is why we in the Scottish Conservatives are determined to try to hold this SNPGreen coalition of chaos to account on the economy. The SNP Government must give Scottish businesses the security of a longterm financial strategy. Aside from the obvious cash boost, the UK Budget gave Scotland the security of a three-year economic plan.

Short-term, emergency measures have been necessary to deal with the fast-moving developments of the pandemic, but they are no longer enough.

IT is also essential, however, that businesses and public services are given the stability of a longer-term economic strategy, to plan their recovery for the years to come. The Scottish Government must acknowledge that, as our recovery will take time, continued support is necessary to protect jobs and businesses.

Since the start of the pandemic, almost 20,000 small businesses have been lost and 40 per cent of businesses have taken on more debt just to survive. These are not abstract numbers: every business – every pound of rising costs – represents Scottish livelihoods that are being lost or put at risk.

While the success of the UK vaccine scheme means we should, with any luck, now be past the worst economic damage of the pandemic, many businesses remain on a knife edge.

Worryingly, we are starting to fall behind the rate of recovery south of the Border.

The Scottish Conservatives are therefore calling on the SNP to extend 75 per cent rates relief to customer-facing businesses for the next financial year – a measure worth more than £600 million to Scottish businesses.

Our economy is starting to reopen and recover, and a 100 per cent tax exemption is no longer appropriate or sustainable – but our 75 per cent reduction will ensure that Scottish businesses are not wiped out by a sudden tax bill next year.

Thanks to the strength of the United Kingdom, we have come through this pandemic in an ideal position to grow a truly thriving and robust economy.

The SNP cannot continue to treat the struggles of Scotland’s public services and industries as merely irritating news stories to be spun away – and forgotten about the next day. Lives and jobs are at stake.