Opinion: At last – an election on the economy

By Colin Borland, from the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland The first ever Holyrood election campaign set against a tough economic backdrop was always going to be different. People are worried about their jobs and the economy is their top concern – thus putting it at the top of our politicians’ list. So far at least, this has seen the traditional Scottish election question of “who should decide what can we throw money at?” replaced with pitches about how we drive the recovery. What is particularly pleasing, however, is that all parties seem to accept the crucial role of small businesses in this recovery. In the fortnight of the campaign so far, we have seen various commitments to the future of the Small Business Bonus; helping more of the self-employed become employers; and exempting the smallest businesses from any new Holyrood regulations. These are the sort of simple, practical measures which small businesses have been calling for. Indeed, much of it could have been written by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). And we will doubtless see more equally sensible ideas emerge as the manifestos are published and the policy papers pored over.

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And there are some big issues on which no-one has yet arrived at the definitive answer. With, for example, budgets tightening and massive pressures on public bodies to deliver short-term savings by consolidating purchasing, how can the rules be changed to ensure local firms are not frozen out? If we agree local authorities should reap the rewards of sound economic development policies, how do you let them keep more of the extra non-domestic rate income they raise without perpetuating inequalities? It is to questions such as these that Scotland’s small businesses will be looking for answers next Tuesday when all five of Scotland’s political party leaders come together for the FSB’s hustings in Edinburgh. An experienced and pragmatic audience, it will be the details of how all the leaders’ laudable objectives will be delivered which will determine how they go down on the night. Campaign insiders will tell you is that policies never won an election – but they have lost plenty. A good idea doesn’t drive the voter to the polling booth in the same way a bad one which will cost them does. They’re the experts, of course, but I wonder just how many old rules are going to be rewritten in these unprecedented times.

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