Putting shoppers first should be the focus of the upcoming
Scottish Government Budget according to the Scottish Retail
Consortium (SRC).
In its Scottish Budget submission, A Scottish Budget for
Shoppers', sent earlier this week to Finance Secretary
MSP, the leading business
group says retail is a brilliant industry which makes an immense
economic and social contribution to Scotland. However, the
industry is under significant pressure due to the twin pressures
of tepid consumer spending and rising outgoings.
Retail is Scotland's largest private sector employer providing
228,000 jobs directly with thousands more in the supply chain.
The SRC's 12-page submission contains 21 recommendations aimed at
making government more affordable, encouraging retail investment
in Scotland, keeping costs down for consumers, and making high
streets and retail destinations safer. It comes ahead of the
unveiling on 3 December of the devolved administration's near £70
billion Budget for 2027-28.
Specifically, the SRC is suggesting government should deliver a
Budget which:
-
Helps retailers keep down prices for customers
by avoiding new costs. The focus should be on spending
restraint and cutting the cost of government to plug the gap in
devolved finances, an unequivocal commitment to no new taxes on
retail including on retail warehouses, and avoiding new
regulatory burdens including scrapping the food price cap.
-
Helps rejuvenate shopping destinations by
introducing a timetabled plan to ensure retailers of all sizes
benefit from a business rate at least as competitive as
England's.
-
Ensures shoppers have more money in their
pockets through a plan to narrow the divergence
between Scottish and UK income tax rates for intermediate,
higher, advanced, and top rate taxpayers.
-
Makes the shopping experience safer by
enhancing funding for Police Scotland's Retail Crime Taskforce
and resourcing Trading Standards to tackle unscrupulous illicit
traders.
The parliamentary arithmetic suggests that more than one
political party will have to support the Scottish Budget for it
to pass.
David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail
Consortium, said:
Scotland's retailers are weathering an economic storm as the
costs of international instability and domestic public policy
impact on their supply chains and their own operations. In the
face of these challenges the industry is looking for an unabashed
Budget for shoppers which supports businesses who are doing
everything in their power to keep costs down for Scottish
households.
That requires new Finance Secretary to grapple with the legacy
of the last Parliament which has left Scottish shops with a less
generous rates discount than England at every level, with a
complicated income tax system which impacts recruitment, and with
a public sector which needs to cut its cloth in the same manner
as industry. It also means Ministers need to focus on what
measures can make the most tangible improvements to people's
lives, for example enhancing the successful Retail Crime
Taskforce and ditching the ill-conceived and incoherent statutory
food price cap.
Despite these difficulties the industry is keen to work with the
government to deliver our shared ambition to make Scotland the
best place in the UK to grow a retail business. With the Holyrood
election behind us now is the time to take the tough decisions to
balance the books, support shoppers and retail businesses, and
kickstart economic growth. If the Government can do that we'd
urge MSPs from across Parliament to work collegiately to pass a
pro-growth Budget. The first Budget of this session has the
chance to set a new pro-growth tone. We hope the new Finance
Secretary will seize the moment.
ENDS-
Notes to Editors
The Scottish Retail
Consortium's Scottish Budget recommendations paper is available
at: src-scottish-budget-report-2026.pdf
