Scottish Budget: Major business body says Government must act amid 'restrictive' planning system and 'uncompetitive' taxes

CBI Scotland has produced its wishlist and demands ahead of the Scottish Budget, which takes place just days before Christmas.

Scottish Government ministers have been urged to ramp-up business confidence and investment in a bid to jumpstart growth as firms battle “restrictive” planning processes and “uncompetitive” taxes.

Publishing its annual submission ahead of the Scottish Budget on 19 December, business organisation CBI Scotland has outlined a series of policy levers that the Government can pull to alleviate the challenges currently facing companies. The group said that while Scotland remains an “excellent place to do business”, access to skills, restrictive planning processes and uncompetitive aspects of the tax environment are holding the economy back from fulfilling its potential.

Tracy Black, director of CBI Scotland, said: “Against a tough economic backdrop for everyone, the Scottish Budget marks an important moment for the Scottish Government to outline its ambitions for growth. With business investment now critical to putting Scotland back on a sustainable economic path, we urgently need firms to unleash investment, not try to tough out the difficult months ahead.

Tracy Black, director of CBI Scotland: 'The Scottish Budget marks an important moment for the Scottish Government to outline its ambitions for growth.'

“Access to skills, restrictive planning processes and uncompetitive tax policies are acting as a handbrake on growth, and firms need to see that the Scottish Government is committed to meeting these challenges head on. Delivering on a manifesto commitment to bring the large business supplement into line with the rest of the UK and mirroring rates reliefs offered by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement are vital first steps on the journey.”

The business body is calling on ministers to produce a “consolidated skills strategy and action plan” that outlines how businesses can best work with government and educational authorities to ensure that the education and skills system is “properly calibrated to real world demand”. It would like to see net-zero and digital skills embedded into the education system so that young people are equipped with the skills they need to succeed in “high growth” industries.

Among the CBI’s suggested “policy levers” is freezing the business rate multiplier for another year while inflation remains significantly above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. It also wants to “reinstate a level-playing field” by bringing the higher property rate/large business supplement into line with the rest of the UK.

The planning processes for local and major green infrastructure projects need to be reformed, according to the CBI wishlist, providing “opportunities for meaningful input from business to unlock and accelerate investment”. The group would like to see the setting-up of a government-supported, industry-led “floating team” of planning experts, to accelerate consenting processes for major net-zero infrastructure projects throughout the country.

Black added: “Seizing the huge economic opportunities available to Scotland means doing more than the bare minimum. We should be more ambitious on business rates, by offering a full freeze across the economy, and committing to rip-up the planning red tape that delays critical green energy and infrastructure projects from getting off the ground. It also means taking a clear-eyed look at the education and skills system to make sure it’s delivering the skills we need for a modern, digital economy.”