Primary Colour:
Primary Text:
Secondary Colour:
Secondary Text:
Tertiary Colour:
Tertiary Text:
Colour Picker
Preview
FeaturesTypographyTutorials
Module Title
Home
Module Title

This block of text is used as an example for the colour chooser module on this web site. This paragraph is functionally unimportant, and can safely be ignored.

Module Title
Module Title
Instructions

Select a predefined style from the drop-down or choose your own colours via the handy colour-chooser. When you are satisfied with your selection, click the "Apply Colours" button below to store your selection in a cookie.

Apply Colours

Holyrood opinion poll

With the publication of the interim Calman Report, do you think –
 
Home
Business rate cuts welcomed Print E-mail
Thursday, 31 May 2007

Small businesses have reacted positively to the news that business rates will be slashed from April 2008 according to government proposals.

During a parliamentary debate on economic growth yesterday, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said: "This government will act to make Scotland the lowest taxed part of the United Kingdom for small and medium sized businesses. We will remove the burden of business rates for many and reduce it for more."

Responding to the announcement, Conservative finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said: "I welcome the confirmation that the Government is seeking to implement a cut in business rates for small businesses from next April.

"This is an area of policy where SNP plans are similar in scale and intent to Scottish Conservative ones and we will work with the new minority Government to ensure that small businesses across Scotland benefit from these reductions from next year.

"This is good news for small business, and a welcome contrast to the rates increases imposed by the last government."

Andy Willox, policy convener for the Federation of Small Business in Scotland, said that the Small Business Bonus would help reduce or remove the burden of rates from thousands of Scotland's smallest businesses.

"If the Scottish Government can steer these proposals through the Parliament, lower business rates, along with targeted investment in our transport infrastructure and a lighter regulatory touch, will deliver a significant competitive advantage to Scottish businesses from April 2008 onwards." 

"However, we need to see much more detail on the SNP’s agenda on skills. If we are to truly maximise our potential economic growth, we need to make sure employers can recruit workers with the right skills their businesses need, including boosting the number of modern apprentices. 

"The Labour manifesto focused on education and skills, so we hope the two largest parties will be able to work across the party divide to ensure Scotland retains its brightest workers."
No one has commented on this article.
The author or administrator has closed this item for comments.


Related news items:
Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 May 2007 )
 
[ Back ]

Featured sites

Site news...


This website has been tested as working under Firefox, and Internet Explorer 6 and 7.  Although the website will work in any of these browsers, users of Internet Explorer may experience some visual distortion due to the browser lacking support for widely accepted open standards.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and will endeavour to ensure that the site will deliver its content irrelevant of browser choice. 

 We strongly encourage users to install the Firefox web browser, as it is both standards-compliant and free software.  

Please click here to visit the Firefox home page.


 
Visitors: 6523443
We have 1 guest online