Small, local businesses are not only the backbone of Scotland’s economy, but often play a vital role as social hubs at the heart of our communities. The SNP recognises the place of pubs in this regard, and the Scottish Government is providing much needed support through its Small Business Bonus Scheme which has saved local firms almost £1.5 billion since 2008 with almost 104,000 recipients in 2017-18 alone.
The scheme has provided an average saving per property of over £2,000 and local pubs also benefit from Scotland’s competitive rates package which is becoming even more generous as the Scottish Government Growth Accelerator ensures businesses will see no bill rises for 12 months resulting from improvements or expansion of existing business property.
These measures provide much needed support to Scotland’s local pubs to help them continue to operate and provide social as well as employment opportunities alongside other small businesses and the SNP will continue to support the interests of these firms at Westminster.
The SNP gained a majority of Scottish seats at Westminster in 2017 on a manifesto which called for advocate a review of alcohol taxation to better reflect alcohol content, whilst supporting the benefits of public health measures. We will continue to support such a review and, in advance of the 2018 UK budget this autumn, the UK Government now has the opportunity to take this opportunity forward.