Sandy Begbie

Sandy Begbie CBE has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to prioritise economic growth in her Budget next week by backing Scottish businesses.

The business leader says the lack of a coherent tax strategy and philosophy for the UK government is currently damaging investor confidence.

He also stresses that moving from one budget to the next with a range of tactical tax changes, simply undermines the UK as a location for investment and drives considerable adverse behaviour change at an individual level. 

SFE represents around 120 member firms in the financial and professional services sector.

The intervention follows Scotland’s Global Investment Summit, led by SFE and the City of London Corporation, which brought together business leaders and global investors sought to highlight the investment opportunities across three of Scotland’s key sectors for growth. 

Mr Begbie said: “Scotland’s Global Investment Summit showed that global investors have the appetite to invest in the talent, research capability and ingenuity that define Scotland’s economy.

“Investors were candid about the role of government in helping foster a stable, predictable fiscal environment that encourages long-term investment and gives companies confidence in the UK. 

“After weeks of speculation that has delayed spending decisions and risked paralysing investment, the onus is now on the Chancellor to create a fiscal environment that matches the ambition shown by businesses at the summit. 

“Ministers talk about difficult decisions but in many ways, increasing the tax burden on workers and firms is a relatively easy decision for government. This is because the government has none of the strategic, operational or execution risk associated with the changes, which instead lies with business.

“The difficult decisions would be around productivity and public sector reform, which are crucial — we are simply spending too much. After all, the public sector only exists because of the taxes raised from private sector.

“If the government truly wants to deliver sustainable growth, it should target fixing the underlying problems in the economy and back the sectors that already underpin Scotland’s economic success by utilising their talent, ambition and track record to turbo-charge economic growth.”