Chamber and committees

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am still a councillor at Aberdeen City Council.

It is absolutely right that we recognise the contribution that our local producers continue to make to our economy and to the wellbeing of our communities. I add my congratulations to everyone who is up for an award at the event tomorrow night that the minister mentioned.

Over the past two years, businesses and citizens have been hit hard by the Covid pandemic. Figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium show that, in November, footfall in Glasgow city centre, for example, was down 22 per cent compared with that in the equivalent period in 2019. That picture has been replicated across Scotland over the past couple of years. More and more people are switching to online shopping as a result of the pandemic, with obvious consequences for our high streets. Today, the Conservative Party is offering not just welcome words but concrete policy solutions to help our struggling high streets and food sectors.

Last month, 13 industry bodies wrote to Kate Forbes asking for rates relief for retail businesses to be included in her budget tomorrow. The organisations warned the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy that the retail industry potentially faces scarring from the pandemic for years to come and that the many challenges that businesses are facing would be “insurmountable” without direct Scottish Government help.

Absolutely—it is fantastic that the UK Government has been able to provide the devolved Government with so much money that it has been able to offer that relief. Businesses are concerned with what will be in this year’s budget and what relief will be provided. The Scottish Government needs to listen and act on that.

In November, shop vacancy rates hit a six-year high, at 16 per cent. The latest Scottish Retail Consortium and Local Data Company figures show that, on the high street, the number of vacancies is still on the increase. The Scottish Government needs to act on that, too.

According to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, local authorities, to which many retailers turn for help, have had a real-terms reduction in general funding of about 20 per cent, once additional obligations have been factored in. However, instead of helping local authorities to release funding for high streets, the Scottish National Party devolved Government’s solution is to further ring fence funding for projects through Holyrood diktat. No longer can local authorities focus on local solutions to local problems; instead, they have their hands tied behind their backs with ring-fenced funding for national projects.

The SNP devolved Government talks a lot about partnership working, yet the bodies that do more to protect our high streets than any others are our local authorities, and the SNP continues to reduce their funding hand over fist.

It is fantastic that the member brings up that issue, because that pedestrianisation project can go ahead only because of £20 million from the UK Government’s levelling up fund. The administration in Aberdeen is looking to enhance the area, whereas the SNP just has talk and wants to manage decline.

If the SNP were serious about protecting our communities, it would be giving local authorities the fair funding settlement that they have asked for. I hope—but doubt—that the finance secretary will have good news for our friends and colleagues in local government tomorrow.

Of course, the issues for our local high streets did not start in the past two years; they have faced challenges for the past 14 years. Many major brands have moved to out-of-town sites or online. That is another example of the SNP taking its eye off the ball.

To rebuild our communities following the pandemic, we need to tackle the long-standing problems that have emptied our high streets and undermined local businesses—high business rates, poor infrastructure and overzealous planning policy. We need to transform our high streets into more diverse places where people can go to live, work, eat, do activities and shop, but councils need Government assistance to be able to do that.

Local authorities were given the ability to introduce rate rebate schemes, which, as a leader of a local authority, I was itching to use. They were given that power, but they were not given the ability to raise funds to pay for any scheme. It was just a way for the Scottish Government to pass the buck to local authorities.

Something that can make a huge impact on the north-east’s recovery is free port status for Aberdeen and Peterhead. Will the cabinet secretary stop playing petty politics with thousands of jobs and engage with the United Kingdom Government’s free port programme?

That is rubbish.

Does the minister feel that all shops and services should be supported, including butchers? Obviously, his Green party partners are against that.

We were trying to say that there had been problems for a long time before the pandemic, so I agree with the member on that point. We have had an SNP Government for such a long period and it has not addressed the issue.

My question follows on pretty well from what Michelle Thomson said. It is good to hear that the net zero capital spending plans are in the forecast. However, I have a concern about oil and gas, and the capital plans that are under pressure not to be spent as we move forward. If those investments did not happen, what would that do to the forecast? I presume that that would have a greater impact on the Scottish economy than it would in the rest of the UK, and there would then be greater divergence between the Scottish tax intake and the intake in the rest of the UK. Has any modelling been done on what would happen if some of those new investments, especially in the North Sea, did not take place?

So the forecasts that you are presenting assume that many of the investments in the North Sea will take place. If they did not happen, the forecasts would have to be revised, and there would probably be a negative impact on the Scottish economy.

Will the member give way?