Meeting of the Parliament 28 May 2024
That is why I lodged a set of amendments, working with the caravan and camping sector, which were intended to ensure that the sector would not be impacted by the levy. I hope that the minister can include some of that in the statutory guidance that he will create, especially for businesses where accommodation is not the main source of income, and for the council areas that may exempt camping and camping sites, as Edinburgh has suggested that it will.
I do not believe that the Scottish public has been informed properly about the impact that the legislation will have on them. Perhaps that is why ministers were so keen that it should come into force before the 2026 Holyrood elections. For most Scots, the issue is not about visitors; it is about them. It is about the fact that they will be paying a 10 per cent additional cost to stay in a hotel when their house is flooded and that, potentially, when they go to hospital with their children they will have to pay the tax because we have no exemptions. When many people see that, they will question why Parliament has not created exemptions.
As things stand, there remains a significant vacuum in many aspects of the bill, with ministers insisting that statutory guidance will provide the clarification to help the accommodation sector to limit the costs and negative impacts that the bill will have on their businesses. We have not seen that guidance, but we are desperate to see what it will look like, and I hope that the sector will help to work to define it.
Our Scottish tourism sector already faces tax burdens that are among the highest anywhere in the world. Scottish Conservatives will not, therefore, support the bill at decision time. Throughout the bill process, we have worked constructively and tried hard to improve the legislation. We have worked with the minister to try to see where limits can be set—