Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2017
I raised in the draft budget the early actions that this Government would take on business rates as the evidence from the revaluation was unfolding. I think that the only people who have been asleep at the wheel are the Conservative Party members, who have not just ignored the issue but are now set—they are not even aware of this—to oppose the actions that this Government will put in place to support businesses across this country. The Tories have opposed these actions.
I read a headline in relation to business rates that “MPs are revolting”. I will let members think about that. The headline referred to Tory MPs revolting against their own Government over what has happened south of the border, where there is a Tory-inspired transitional relief scheme in place. The transitional relief scheme south of the border has meant that bills that should be coming down are being held artificially high to pay for others, which is deeply unpopular south of the border.
Murdo Fraser has made his budget demands publicly. If the issue was such a big one for the Conservatives, why did they not raise it during the budget negotiations, when I was delivering for business and supporting business through revaluation? It remains the case that, while the Tories oppose, this SNP Government delivers for business by lowering the poundage, increasing the small business bonus and taking further businesses out of the large business supplement.
At local level, councils have been working proactively with me to address local and regional issues. Even there, the Tories have opposed support packages for the range of sectors that Murdo Fraser has mentioned. The hospitality sector has a justifiable case, because of the level of proposed increases through revaluation and because of the methodology used to arrive at the values, which is based on turnover. Therefore, it is fair to deliver a package to support that sector, while supporting all businesses by lowering the poundage.
The money or the resource that is estimated to—[Interruption.] I know that the Conservatives are obsessed with money. We are trying to support all businesses and they are not interested in that. The package is estimated to be around £30 million to £40 million. On non-domestic rates, as Murdo Fraser is well aware, we are addressing the forecast in the NDR pool balance, and the adjusted forecasts can be accommodated within that, so there is no impact on businesses.
The Government believes that it is absolutely right to take the actions that we are taking. We will promote the small business bonus scheme and the additional reliefs and caps to support our economy and businesses at this time, while the Tories simply oppose. They oppose measures that we have designed to deliver in good time, well in advance of the start of the financial year and as a consequence of the constructive and positive engagement that I have had as finance secretary in the Scottish Government.