Dear Cabinet Secretary,

We are writing jointly ahead of the Scottish Budget to ask that you introduce a permanent business rate discount for all retail premises.

We fully recognise some of the positive decisions on business rates the Scottish Government has taken over recent years including more regular rates revaluations, ensuring Ministers rather than Councils set the business rate and reliefs, as well as the move not to apply fair work conditionality to eligibility for business rate reliefs.

However, as you know in the UK Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed retailers in England will receive a permanently discounted business rate from April. This 5p in the £ reduction will see stores down south receive roughly a 10 per cent discount to their business rate. To their credit both the UK and Welsh governments have recognised retailers’ pay a disproportionate amount in business rates, with Wales set to reduce the business rate that retailers’ pay too.

A thriving Scottish retail industry is good news for the availability of flexible local jobs, investment in high streets and town and city centres, and ultimately for tax revenues. If the Scottish Government fails to act retailers here in Scotland will miss out on a permanent business rate discount and existing and new stores and high streets here will – by comparison - become less viable locations to trade and invest in, with consequence for the state of our retail destinations.

Continued investment in stores is essential to keep shops viable and attractive to customers and to minimise the number of shuttered shops. We don’t want to see Scotland become a materially more expensive place to operate shops as it would likely shift investment to other parts of the UK and make economic recovery here more challenging. It is not in the interests of Scotland’s economy for shop owners to be incentivised to invest in Berwick-upon-Tweed over Balloch, Bathgate, or Brechin.

Our organisations have a range of ideas on how Scotland’s business rates system could better support economic recovery in the short and longer term. However, we collectively believe that your Budget on 13 January needs to introduce a permanent business rate discount for all retailers, one which is at least as competitive as is planned for stores in England. This would support retailers, the local job and career opportunities they provide, the vitality of our high streets and town and city centres, whilst delivering on our shared vision of making ‘Scotland the best place in the UK to grow a retail business’.

Yours sincerely,

David Lonsdale, Director, Scottish Retail Consortium

Meryl Halls, Managing Director, Booksellers Association of the UK & Ireland

Andrew Goodacre, Chief Executive Officer, British Independent Retailers Association

Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive, Company Chemists’ Association

Jim Winship, Director, British Sandwich & Food to Go Association

Dr Hannah Shimko, Managing Director, Gift Card & Voucher Association

Fran Barnes, Chief Executive Officer, Horticultural Trades Association

Anthony Short, Executive Director, Music Industries Association

Caroline Larissey, Chief Executive, National Hair & Beauty Federation

Alan Anthony, Scotland Chair, Revo Community

Lesley Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Bakers

Dr Pete Cheema OBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Grocers’ Federation