First Minister's statement 'immensely frustrating' for Badenoch and Strathspey businesses
The Federation of Small Businesses' Highlands & Islands spokesman has responded to Nicola Sturgeon's lockdown statement of yesterday with a warning that another six weeks of stay-at-home won't ease the pressures mounting on the sector.
David Richardson said today: "While the country has reached an important milestone on the road to recovery, we know that small businesses will find the lack of a firm timetable immensely frustrating.
"And while we do have some indicative ‘earliest dates’, the three week gaps between them are lengthy.
“Another six weeks of mainland stay-at-home lockdown certainly won’t ease the mounting pressures facing businesses, but it’s worse than that, for the news from the First Minister today was definitely not what the countless Badenoch & Strathspey businesses involved in our vitally important visitor economy wished to hear.
“While the move back into the Levels System, hopefully no later than the last week of April, will be well received by many Scottish businesses, it will not mean that the all-important customers of our tourism and hospitality business – from the Central Belt and England – will be able to return immediately, and certainly not those from overseas.
"History will repeat itself, and just as happened before Christmas, Highland businesses will be able to open but their key customer bases will not be able to travel to use their services. And will there be any financial support for them if they are forced to close as a result?"
The federation has called on the Scottish Government for three things, he explained.
"First, we want more detail about the types of economic activity that can be resumed under the different levels so that businesses can begin to plan. Second, as the vaccine is rolled out, we want the Scottish Government to continually review whether its recovery roadmap timetable can be accelerated, travel restrictions lifted, and restrictions on local economies eased.
"And third, we want grants to be made available to prevent businesses that have made it thus far through the pandemic from going under.
"We don’t want to see precious businesses falling at the final hurdle.”