Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 December 2020
I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of interests.
Despite valiant efforts by businesses and their employees up and down Scotland, there have been widespread job losses and a continuing air of uncertainty hangs over our cities and towns as we reach the Christmas festive period. On top of that uncertainty, resentment has grown among businesses about the lack of Scottish Government support—it has been slow to deliver that support.
The chief executive of VisitScotland, Malcolm Roughead, has just sent out an email in which he states that there is a high level of stress out there as everyone tries to stick to the rules while keeping their businesses afloat. That really sums up what is going on out there.
No sector has felt that more than the Scottish hospitality and tourism industry. The restrictions meant that stays in hotels and in self-catering and bed and breakfast premises dried up overnight. I will put that in plain words by sharing with members recent findings from the newly formed South of Scotland Destination Alliance. It found that the tier restrictions “wiped out” any prospect of visitors coming to the south of Scotland. An eye-watering 94 per cent of tourism-related businesses had cancellations across the south of Scotland and a third of businesses saw between 90 and 100 per cent of their bookings disappear.
The consequences of those cancellations were stark. They resulted in a collective loss of just over £1 million across the 83 businesses that were surveyed and £0.5 million of income lost as a direct result of the introduction of Scottish levels. It is true that the Parliament agreed to and voted for those restrictions, but that equates to an average of £6,680 per business. Businesses simply cannot make ends meet, let alone bear the cost of the bills that they are incurring for rent, wages and stock.
It is only today, after the Scottish Conservatives’ sustained calls for the Government to get the cash out of the door, that support has been provided for businesses that have been left out purely as a result of badly thought-through Government eligibility criteria, which have affected wedding companies, taxi drivers and self-catering operators. We await the detail on the latter.
A solution is clear. Our motion calls on the Scottish Government to provide a cushion for businesses for what has been deemed “three winters in a row” by committing to extending rates relief for the sector, including retail, which David Lonsdale of the Scottish Retail Consortium supports.
We have consistently called for a coronavirus business advisory council, which might have assisted the Government to understand a bit more quickly why businesses were falling through the cracks because of ineligibility. I am glad that the Labour Party’s amendment recognises that, too, and I thank Alex Rowley for that. I do not agree with Patrick Harvie that such a council would be a talking shop for corona deniers, and it is short-sighted of him not to recognise a collegiate approach.
I turn to the minister’s amendment. We agree that we are fortunate that Scotland has benefited significantly throughout the pandemic from the scale of the support that has been provided to Scotland. [Interruption.]