SLTA chief angry at Swinney’s VAT call snub – Daily Business

Licensed trade spokesman Colin Wilkinson has expressed anger at First Minister John Swinney’s dismissive response to calls for a cut in VAT.

At First Minister’s Questions, Mr Swinney was asked by SNP backbencher Alyn Smith if he would support the UK-wide ‘VAT’s the Problem’ campaign which demands a 10% cut for hospitality businesses.

Picking up on interventions from Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the First Minister said: “For all the years that the bawling Stephen Kerr’s party was in office, it never cut VAT on hospitality, so Conservative party members should not come to the chamber with unreasonable expectations.”

Colin Wilkinson, managing director of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: “Firstly, the First Minister seems to have forgotten that the Conservative government cut VAT during Covid to 5% from 15 July 2020 to 30 September 2021, and continued a reduction to 12.5% from 1 October 2021 to 31March 2022.

“More alarmingly, does his comment ‘… so Conservative party members should not come to the chamber with unreasonable expectations’ .. suggest he does not support a cut in VAT for the hospitality sector because he deems the call to be ‘unreasonable’?”

Mr Wilkinson added: “Rather than giving a straightforward answer to a straightforward question, the First Minister’s deplorable response was more focused on playground bickering and political point-scoring than answering a question, raised by one of his own industry-respected party colleagues Alyn Smith MSP, a champion of the hospitality sector.

“The lack of response, whether positive or negative, in our opinion signals a high level of disinterest and contempt for one of Scotland’s key sectors and contributor to the Scottish economy.

“It also begs the question of the First Minister as to what he sees the future role of the hospitality sector, if in his mind it has any part to play at all, in his aims to grow Scotland’s economy.”

The SLTA has long called for greater recognition of the importance of the licensed hospitality and overall tourism sectors to the Scottish economy, our cultural heritage, social wellbeing and the jobs provision the sector provides, particularly for young people.

Mr Wilkinson said: “We thought that progress was being made when “tourism”, one of Scotland’s most important key industries and intrinsically linked with hospitality, was now a named portfolio at Cabinet Secretary level.

“However, the First Minister’s lack of response to support a campaign to help the hospitality sector has dented our aspirations.”