Hansard

I am grateful to Mr Ewing for that intervention. It is a mystery why that should be the case about the assessors; perhaps, when he responds to the debate, the minister can provide some clarity.

The practical impact of those increases is that many businesses will struggle to survive. There are many that currently benefit from the small business bonus relief and, therefore, pay nothing. As a result of the increases, they will cross the threshold and face substantial bills for the first time.

I know that the assessors operate independently of the Government and carry out their work free from ministerial direction. However, it is the Scottish Government that sets the rules, guidance and protections, and, therefore, there is a role for the Scottish Government to intervene where there are such dramatic and draconian impacts from a revaluation.

A range of business organisations have spoken out about the threat to small businesses in the hospitality and self-catering sectors. The Federation of Small Businesses, UKHospitality Scotland, the Scottish Hospitality Group and the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers—to name but a few—have called for Government intervention and action. Today, we are backing those calls.

What we need from the Scottish Government is an immediate pause on implementation of the 2026 revaluation, to allow time for a review of the methodology, which is clearly not fit for purpose. That would give businesses a much-needed reprieve before any draft values are set in stone.

The bureaucracy needs to be looked at. I was contacted by one business in Lanarkshire with three sites, which has had 790 separate entries in the roll—that is 790 separate returns and 790 separate bills. That is a huge administrative burden for a business, and it shows that the system is broken.

We need meaningful transitional protections to be provided against any excessive bill increases; we need the Scottish Government, in its budget next week, to set a rate poundage that reflects the impact of the rateable value increases; and we need clarity on the future of the small business bonus scheme to ensure that the smallest businesses do not suffer the most.

I have set out the pressing and urgent issues that will affect businesses as a result of revaluation, but there are also broader issues in relation to non-domestic rates that the Government needs to address. In the past two years, retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England have benefited from reductions in their rates bills that have not been reflected here in Scotland, even though the Scottish Government has had Barnett consequentials that would have allowed it to reflect those reductions. Since 2022-23, the Scottish Government has failed to pass on at least £700 million in business rates relief that has been received through the block grant.

Going forward, those same businesses in England are looking at a permanent 10 per cent reduction in their rates bills, but there are currently no proposals from the SNP Government to do something similar, and that needs to be addressed.

The businesses that I am talking about are at the heart of our communities, not least in rural areas. Many of them will simply be unable to survive the dramatic increases in rates bills that are coming their way. That is why the issue requires the urgent attention of the Scottish ministers. That is the point that is made in our motion, which I commend to the chamber.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises that businesses across Scotland are facing an acute and worsening cost crisis, driven by inflation, energy prices, wage pressures, supply chain disruption and weak economic growth; notes with serious concern the scale of proposed increases in rateable values arising from the 2026 non-domestic rates revaluation, particularly in the hospitality and self-catering sectors; believes that sharp and unaffordable increases in non-domestic rates now pose an existential threat to business viability, employment, investment and local economic resilience in many parts of Scotland; notes the growing divergence between Scotland’s non-domestic rates regime and those operating elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and the competitive disadvantage that this risks creating for Scottish firms; understands that, since 2022-23, the Scottish Government has failed to pass on at least £700 million in business rates relief received through the block grant; calls on the Scottish Government to act urgently to provide certainty and stability by pausing the implementation of the 2026 revaluation, introducing meaningful transitional protections against excessive bill increases, and matching reductions in bills for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England, and affirms that a strong and thriving business base is essential to Scotland’s economic recovery, public finances and communities, and that the tax system should support growth rather than accelerate decline.