Business owners and trade groups in Scotland have expressed frustration that small retailers will be denied the 40% rates discount that similar business continue to receive in England and Wales.
Business groups and individual traders had lobbied the SNP-led Scottish Government ahead of last week’s Budget, stressing that funds had been made available specifically for rates relief by the Westminster Government. In the end, Scotland’s Finance Secretary, Shona Robison, decided that small retail and leisure businesses would miss out on the benefits – which will, however, be granted to the majority of Scottish hospitality venues.
FSB Scotland policy chair, Andrew McRae, said: “We welcome the extension of 40% rates relief to the majority of Scottish hospitality venues … However, the refusal to extend the same rates relief to our small retailers and leisure providers is a bitter pill to swallow.
“The pressures they are facing are exactly the same as those in England and Wales, where relief has continued to be available since July 2022 – the last time such relief was offered in Scotland.”
John McKee, owner of Edinburgh-based retail business Hanover Health, said he was left “bitterly disappointed” after the Budget. He added: “Successive governments in Westminster felt the case was made to support smaller businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality in the melange of adverse circumstances we have had to endure since 2020.”
McKee told the Scottish Daily Mail that rates relief would have been worth £8,000 to his store over two years and would’ve provided the business with a vital cushion.
