Meeting of the Parliament 11 December 2013
The member needs to read the green book that goes with last week’s autumn statement, because it contains policy upon policy relating to the cost of living. Kenneth Gibson is shaking his head, so let me help him by outlining some of those policies.
The green book contains clear, costed and credible policies to reduce the cost of energy bills. We heard about policies in the budget for creating tax-free childcare that will benefit people up and down the country. What about the income tax threshold being increased to £10,000 so that the lowest earners will pay nothing in income tax? What about the council tax freeze that has been introduced south of the border in the past few years? I have also referred to fuel duty. There are many measures for the cost of living. It is right that we should acknowledge that there is still work to be done—I certainly accept that—but the coalition Government is doing a huge amount.
One of the other big announcements that were made last week was about retail premises south of the border. There will be a special discount on business rates of £1,000 to occupied retail and food and drink premises that have a rateable value of £50,000 or less. That is worth about £350 million to the business community, and the Barnett consequentials that will flow from that will be approximately £29 million in 2014-15, and approximately £39 million in financial year 2015-16. That is a big shot in the arm for retail south of the border. It has been widely welcomed by businesses across the land. Our challenge to the Scottish Government is on what it intends to do to help retail in Scotland. Although the small business bonus scheme is an excellent policy, and we support it, premises with a rateable value of more than £18,000 do not get that benefit. South of the border, the threshold will be a rateable value of £50,000 whereas up here it will be £18,000.
We welcome the extension of the small business bonus, as announced earlier, but the cabinet secretary’s assessment is that that would be worth about £3.8 million to businesses in Scotland, while the Barnett consequentials of the UK Government’s announcement are almost 10 times that. What will the Scottish Government do in response to that? What will retailers in Scotland get to match it? Retailers in Scotland have had a particularly difficult time as a sector. The retail levy introduced by this Government makes it even tougher for retailers in Scotland.