RUTH Davidson yesterday attacked the SNP over rising business rates after revealing one of the party’s own branches had complained after a hotel passed on the cost to its customers.
The Scottish Conservative leader surprised Nicola Sturgeon with the case at First Minister’s Questions, saying a rates revaluation was causing “screams of pain” from businesses.
She said the four star Banff Springs Hotel in Aberdeenshire faced a £50,000 rates hike in April after a revaluation, despite the oil price slump hurting trade across the North East.
She said: “They've been faced with a choice, either to reluctantly put up their charges or to go bust. They've been forced to pass those charges on. And they’ve had their first complaint from a customer who’s now having to pay £80 to hire a room [instead of £30].”
She then read from the complaint: “‘The increase in the hire fee is excessive to say the least.
“Should this fee of £80 apply to future meetings I can confirm there will be no further bookings and our business will be taken elsewhere.’
“And the name of the customer? The Banff branch of the Scottish National Party. If the First Minister's own party can't support her policy, isn't it time she did something about it?"
The SNP’s Banff branch is understood to have used hotel for meetings since the 1970s.
Ms Sturgeon said the revaluations of rates had been independent, and businesses would have the opportunity to appeal against final valuations.
She added: “We have the most competitive business rates regime in the whole of the UK. A hundred thousand businesses lifted out of business rates altogether.
“We have a tourism sector that is booming... we're the best performing part of the UK outside of the South East for inward investment."
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale highlighted the continuing rise in young people referred for mental health treatment but unable to get it because of a lack of counsellors: 10,500 since January 2015, including 1600 more since Ms Sturgeon promised to take action in September
Ms Dugdale said cuts in the SNP’s budget would exacerbate the problem: "These cuts will punish kids already in crisis, it doesn't have to be this way. Will the First Minister do the right thing, scrap the cuts and invest in Scotland's public services instead?"
Ms Sturgeon accused Ms Dugdale of "the politics of the playground" and not engaging seriously in the budget process to secure more funds.
"Labour has rendered itself irrelevant, had no influence and delivered absolutely nothing on behalf of the people they're supposed to represent. When it comes to the Budget discussions, Labour should be deeply ashamed of itself."
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