"Business" does not have a vote in Thursday's General Election, but measures to boost commerce and the economy will be central to the country's future.

Deputy Business Editor Mark Latham fillets the party's Scottish manifestos to see how they address the vital issues.

BUDGETARY, ECONOMIC AND FISCAL GOALS

Conservative Party

No increases in VAT, NI or income tax.

Review business rates and lower taxes on jobs and enterprise.

Abolish employers' NI contributions for the under 25s in 2016/17 (currently abolished for under 21s).

Eliminate the deficit by third year of next parliament and start to run a balanced structural current budget in 2017/18.

Create 200,000 jobs in Scotland.

Green Party

"Break from austerity" to invest in homes, health and children.

Council tax and business rates replaced by a progressive land tax.

Labour Party

Cut the deficit each year, to be certified by the OBR. Balance the books, deliver a surplus and reduce national debt "as soon as possible".

Proceeds from the sale of stakes in Lloyds and RBS used to repay the national debt (no timescale).

Abolish "non-dom" tax status.

One million new green jobs in low carbon technologies by 2025, 100,000 in Scotland.

Liberal Democrat Party

Eradicate budget deficit by 2017/18 and aim for debt to fall as a proportion of national income every year until it returns to "sustainable levels" by middle of next decade. After that allow public spending to grow again in line with economy.

SNP

Focus on growing economy with increased infrastructure investment to generate jobs.

Reduce the UK deficit each year but bring "an end to austerity" with an additional £140bn spending a year on infrastructure, skills development, NHS, welfare and other public services

In favour of reintroduction of the 50p top tax rate, a tax on bankers' bonuses, a bank levy, a mansion tax, a crackdown on tax avoidance, abolition of non-dom tax status and reversal of married couple's tax allowance.

UKIP

Support current government's deficit elimination plan.

Raise income tax personal allowance to at least £13,000.

Abolish inheritance tax.

Raise threshold for 40 per cent income tax to £55,000 and introduce 30 per cent rate on incomes between £43,000 and £55,000.

BUSINESS SUPPORT

Conservative

Continue red tape cuts. Establish the Office of Tax Simplification (created in 2010) on a permanent basis.

Treble start-up loans programme so 75,000 more can borrow to set up businesses.

Establish new Small Business Conciliation Service to mediate in disputes, especially over late payment.

Set a new "significantly higher" permanent level for the Annual Investment Allowance (up from £25,000 at present) for companies to invest in plant or machinery.

Boost for first time exporters (amount unspecified).

Extend Small Business Bonus Scheme in Scotland to cut business rates for SMEs paying a Living Wage.

Greens

Promote sustainable expansion of industries such as food production, digital and creative industries, medical and life sciences, construction and energy.

Labour

Strengthen rules on late payment.

Create British Investment Bank to improve access to finance for SMEs and boost growth.

Lib Dem

Double innovation and research spending.

Expand British Business Bank to tackle shortage of equity capital.

Reduce burden on businesses by curbing red tape, exempting small businesses from EU rules where possible and defending UK opt-out of the Working Time Directive.

SNP

Support targeted reductions to employers' NI contributions to support job creation.

Support an increase in the Employment Allowance from annual £2,000 per business to £6,000.

Press UK government for seed-fund capitalisation (no figure specified) for the (much-heralded) Scottish Business Development Bank.

Continue the Small Business Bonus Scheme, removing or reducing rates for around 100,000 businesses.

Press Westminster to introduce laws to ensure small businesses are paid on time.

Under Scottish Business Pledge companies that pay the Living Wage and don't use zero-hours contracts will receive "targeted support and advice to export, grow, innovate and become more productive".

UKIP

Extend Small Business Rate Relief so that more SMEs can claim.

Significant fines for large companies that pay small businesses late.

Repeal EU rules that stifle business growth. Free traders to sell in measures of their choice.

JOBS AND PAY

Conservative

Accept Low Pay Commission's recommendation of minimum wage rise to £6.70 in the autumn and over £8 by the end of the decade.

Support Living Wage and encourage businesses to pay it when they can.

Greens

Increase minimum wage to £10 an hour by 2020 by increasing the national minimum wage to the Living Wage. Provide more public support for investment in research and innovation.

Labour

Raise minimum wage to more than £8 an hour by 2020. Devolve powers over pay rates to Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities.

Ban "exploitative" zero-hours contracts.

Support Living Wage through government procurement. Tax rebates for companies that sign up to the Living Wage. Publicly listed companies required to report whether or not they pay the Living Wage. Living Wage Unit established in Scottish Government.

Lib Dem

Ask Low Pay Commission to examine raising minimum wage without damaging jobs.

Establish an independent review on how to set a fair Living Wage across all sectors.

Create a formal right for workers to request a fixed contract.

SNP

Vote to increase minimum wage to £8.70 (£6.86 for 18 to 21-year-olds and apprentices, £5.07 for 16 to 18-year-olds) by 2020. Support establishing Living Wage across the UK.

UKIP

Introduce a binding code of conduct requiring businesses with more than 50 staff to offer full or part-time secure contract after one year if requested by worker.

HOUSING

Conservative

Introduce a new Help to Buy ISA across the UK to help people save for a deposit.

Continue Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee until the start of 2017 and extend Scottish Help to Buy equity loan scheme to 2020.

Reintroduce Right to Buy scheme in Scotland.

Greens

Stabilise house prices and invest in social rented homes across the UK, financed by scrapping buy-to-let mortgage tax breaks and prudent borrowing.

Introduce secure tenancies and rent controls in areas of spiralling cost to making renting fairer.

Labour

Target of 200,000 homes in the UK (of which 20,000 in Scotland) to be built annually by 2020.

Limit rent reviews to one per year and control rent rises. Reform tenancy agreements to provide greater security for landlords and tenants.

Lib Dem

Target to build 300,000 new homes a year UK-wide (no targets or timeframe).

Establish government-backed Housing Investment Bank to provide long-term capital for major new settlements and to help attract finance for major house building projects.

SNP

Supports investment across the UK for an annual house building target of 100,000 affordable homes a year.

Continue to support Help to Buy and shared equity scheme to help first-time buyers on to the housing ladder.

UKIP

Build 1m homes on brown field sites by 2025 by offering financial incentives to developers.

Relieve pressure on social housing waiting lists by preventing foreign nationals from getting on social housing waiting lists until they have lived here and paid UK tax and national insurance for at least 5 years.

Bar non-British nationals from accessing Right to Buy or Help to Buy schemes, unless they have served in the armed forces.

Increase council tax by 50 per cent for those whose homes are empty for more than two years, with exceptions for those in the armed forces.

SKILLS, TRAINING AND EMPLOYABILITY

Conservative

Ensure 10,000 new apprenticeships in Scotland every year by 2020 with focus on expanding opportunities for women and high-level apprenticeships. New apprenticeships should match the demand for skills across all industries.

Greens

Increase minimum wage for apprentices from £3.30 an hour to £10 an hour.

Labour

Guarantee a job and training for all young people.

Every firm in receipt of a major government contract required to offer apprenticeships.

A £1,600 "Future Fund" for 18 and 19-year-olds who don't have an apprenticeship and don't go to college or university to invest in themselves or a business.

Tax bankers' bonuses to pay for a Scottish Jobs Guarantee to provide a paid starter job and training for all 18 to 24-year olds out of work for over a year.

Free bus travel for all apprentices.

Lib Dem

Double the number of businesses across the UK which hire apprentices: extend them to sectors such as the creative and digital industries.

SNP

Increase Modern Apprenticeships from 25,000 to 30,000 a year in Scotland.

UKIP

Allow young people to start an apprenticeship instead of studying four non-core subjects

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Conservative

Establish a new Financial Policy Committee to monitor and control indebtedness and imbalances across the economy.

Complete the process of ring-fencing retail from investment banking by 2019.

Greens

Support the launch of banks of all types such as co-operatives, credit unions, mutuals and small banks serving local areas and focussed on lending to local businesses.

Use state-owned RBS to create a network of local People's Banks for every city and region. Branches would be obliged to offer cheap basic banking services, governed by local stakeholders holding dual social and financial mandate.

Support EU-wide financial transactions tax which party estimates could raise £20bn a year in the UK.

Labour

Increase competition for high street banks by testing market share and launching at least two new challenger banks.

Lib Dem

Complete process of separating retail from investment banking (no timeframe).

Introduce time-limited supplementary corporation tax on banking sector.

SNP

Support a tax on bankers' bonuses and the introduction of a bank levy.

UKIP

Pilot scheme to improve access to trade credit insurance for small businesses.

FISHING

Conservative

Continue to devolve management of North Sea fisheries to local communities and rebalance the UK's inland water quotas to locally-based fishing communities.

Greens

EU funding for fishing should be used to support long-term fish stock recovery.

Labour

-

Lib Dem

Develop a national plan for sustainable UK fisheries.

SNP

Ensure the discard ban introduced in January 2015 is workable for Scotland's fishing fleet.

UKIP

Leaving the EU will allow the UK to withdraw from the Common Fisheries Policy and then establish a 12-mile zone around the UK coastline for UK fishermen and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone under UK control.

Enforce 'no-take' zones to aid spawning and replenish fish stocks. End destructive industrial fishing practices. Protect dolphins by banning pair trawlers fishing for bass.

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Conservative

Support the safe development of fracking projects. Support the building of new nuclear and gas power plants.

Greens

Scotland as world centre of decommissioning fossil fuel industry. Redeploy skills in sub-sea engineering to tidal and wave energy.

Labour

Develop a long-term strategy for the industry, including more certainty on tax rates and maximising potential for carbon storage. Set up resilience fund to support local communities affected by job losses in sector.

Ensure there no on-shore fracking unless local communities agree.

Lib Dem

Encourage exploration and an effective programme of decommissioning.

Support a "precautionary" approach to fracking in Scotland: full examination of physical and social impacts needed before permits are approved.

SNP

Keep up pressure on UK Treasury to protect jobs and investment in the oil and gas industry in era of lower oil prices.

New oil and gas strategy to focus on the sector's supply chain, skills development and internationalisation.

UKIP

Support the development of shale gas provided safeguards in place to protect local communities and the environment.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Conservative

Reduce spread of onshore wind farms by ending any new public subsidy. Scrap business rate exemptions for large renewable energy projects.

Greens

Green New Deal to invest (unspecified) millions in green industrialisation and low carbon projects, to be financed debt-free through a Green Infrastructure Quantitative Easing programme.

Labour

Create Energy Security Board to plan and deliver country's energy mix, including renewables, nuclear, green gas and carbon capture and storage and clean coal.

Create a million additional green jobs across the UK by 2025, at least 100,000 of them in Scotland.

Lib Dem

Accelerate investment into low carbon energy generation and energy efficiency to reduce energy demand by 50 per cent by 2030.

Stimulate at least £100bn more private investment in green energy infrastructure by 2020.

SNP

Seek alterations to current Contracts for Differences regime to ensure support for offshore wind and boost manufacturing opportunities.

Press to ensure onshore wind receives (unspecified) support from UK government.

UKIP

Invest exclusively in hydro the only competitively-priced green technology.

Withdraw subsidies for new wind turbines and solar arrays while respecting existing contracts.

TOURISM

Conservative

Simplify and speed up visa issuance for tourists. Recruit more apprentices into the industry.

Greens

Promote wildlife, seas, landscapes and bio-diversity to boost the tourist economy.

Labour

-

Lib Dem

-

SNP

Press for early devotion of Airline Passenger Duty with short-term goal of 50 per cent reduction and eventual abolition, to boost flights to Scotland and support tourism.

Examine reducing VAT for the hospitality sector to level playing field with other EU countries.

UKIP

Create a dedicated Minister of State for Heritage and Tourism.

Fight to save the Great British Pub.

Remove VAT from repairs to listed buildings.

FOOD AND DRINK

Conservative

Establish Great British Food Unit to help trademark and promote local foods around the world.

Greens

Supermarkets to be regulated where they prevent a local food economy from flourishing.

Oppose GM crops.

Labour

-

Lib Dem

-

SNP

Full devolution of all food levies to support promotion of Scotland's food and drink industry.

UKIP

EU Agriculture subsidies paid to wealthy landowners and intensively farmed holdings diverted to smaller food producers and family farms.