Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2026 [Draft]
I am acutely conscious of the impact on a range of businesses, not only in the buildings affected by the fire but in the surrounding areas where there is an exclusion zone and where access is difficult. That situation might persist for some time to come and I am clear about those impacts. Kaukab Stewart, the local member, has briefed me on the dialogue that she has had with individual businesses, and the city council will be in dialogue with them as well.
When I visited the site yesterday, I made clear that I recognise the impacts. We have discussed with Glasgow City Council the support that can be made available by the Government to ensure that business owners—many of them owners of small businesses who were, as Annie Wells said, just getting on with making their living but have had their world turned upside down—get support to assist them at this difficult time. The Government will look to work with the city council to do that.