Budget news ‘welcome but is not bold enough’, argues leading Highland business figure
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A “LONGER term view” should have been taken by the UK Chancellor when announcing the Budget, a leading Highland business figure has warned.
The Federation of Small Businesses’ Highland and Islands development manager David Richardson believes that Rishi Sunak’s announcement last week should “enable the bulk” of small Highland businesses “to struggle round what we hope will be the final lap on the road to recovery”, Federation
But he added that while extensions for the furlough scheme and VAT cuts will be welcomed by the likes of the hospitality trade, he warned that many will still have to get through next winter.
He said: “The longer the current travel restrictions remain, the longer and bumpier the road for our all-important tourism and hospitality businesses will be.
“After all, these businesses, providing accommodation, food and drink, activities and a wide range of other services, many of them operating seasonally and in remote rural areas, still have to get through next winter. In short, we would have liked to see the Chancellor take a longer-term view.
He continued: “While welcoming the extension of the VAT cut to September, many of our tourism and hospitality businesses will worry about what happens next.
"We’ve got to attract consumers back, and no-one knows when international markets will reopen and business return to something like normal.”
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry has warned that the Budget risks pushing “many families into deeper poverty at the very time they need a helping hand”.
He added also said that extending the £20 Universal Credit uplift by only six months, does not go far enough.
“It is more of the same from the Chancellor – those with the least continue to pay the price with more Tory austerity on its way.
"Universal Credit has never been enough to live on and that isn’t going to change in six months’ time.
The route out of the pandemic isn’t to punish low-income households, it is to invest in people and our economy.”
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, who is also the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, said: “The extension of the furlough scheme and self-employed support will be a relief to many, and is something that the Scottish Government has repeatedly called for. However, it is extremely disappointing that the Chancellor has failed to reverse the cuts to Scotland’s capital budget and has refused to make the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent.
“The UK Government’s support for businesses and households is significantly less generous than what we have committed to here in Scotland.
“While there is some additional funding for Scotland, it was clear from the Chancellor’s statement that the storm clouds of austerity are on the horizon once again – with the OBR highlighting that departmental spending is being cut by £15 billion – a move that would be disastrous for our economic recovery, undermine our public services, and impact on the most vulnerable in our communities.
