Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron has demanded that the SNP must detail exactly how it is spending the £2.2 billion received from the UK Government to support businesses through the coronavirus crisis.
Mr Cameron, the Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary, said: “We keep hearing from senior SNP figures that its package of support for businesses is superior to the UK Government’s."
“But absolutely no evidence has been provided to back this up, and it is certainly not the message I am receiving from local businesses in the Highlands and Islands who simply can’t understand why the Scottish Government is diverging from the rest of the UK in some respects."
“So far, the only clarity we have is that firms in leisure, hospitality and retail with more than one property are being sold extremely short, which could have a very damaging impact on our local High Streets.”
“Ministers must detail exactly how it is spending this considerable package of support from the UK Government, and which areas are actually going to benefit from this.”
HCUA Comment:
Both Nicola Sturgeon and out-of-her-depth finance secretary Kate Forbes have claimed the SNP's package of "support" for businesses is superior to that being offered in the rest of the UK, but so far no details have been released about where the cash is going, despite the desperate need Scottish businesses have for this UK money.
Businesses across retail, leisure and hospitality in Scotland have hit out at SNP divergence from the package being applied - now - in the rest of the UK, which sees £25,000 emergency grants provided by business in Scotland rather than applying to each property a business uses for trading as is the case elsewhere in the UK. Scottish businesses have warned this will consign companies with more than one premises to collapse, costing tens, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Scottish jobs in the process.
The ever-secretive and evasive SNP government has refused to detail exactly how it spending the £2.2 billion from the UK Government:
