Plea for lifeline to South Ayrshire small businesses

Oct 31 2008

SMALL businesses in South Ayrshire are facing a tough road ahead.

And MSP John Scott insists that the government must help them secure their future.

He says that thousands of jobs are dependant on small businesses across the county.

The MSP for Ayr claims that many will struggle to survive the current economic crisis.

Mr Scott explained: “Small businesses, which provide many thousands of jobs here in South Ayrshire, are facing very difficult financial pressures at this time and it’s essential that government looks at what it can do to help now.

“In Scotland, thousands of small companies are already benefiting from business rates reductions, with a further package of reductions scheduled for April of next year.

“This was one of the conditions for Conservative support for the Scottish Government’s budget earlier this year, and should help secure the position of many small businesses in South Ayrshire.”

But Mr Scott says it’s still not enough.

He added: “However, we need to see much greater action, particularly on the part of the UK Government, to help our local economy weather the current economic storm.

“That’s why I support the proposals this week by David Cameron for a VAT holiday and for a cut in both National Insurance rates and corporation tax for small businesses.

“Measures like this really could be the difference between good small and medium sized companies staying afloat or going under, and be the difference between local people losing their jobs and livelihoods in the current economic slump and them remaining in employment.”