It would be pushing things to say Shona Robison will be the toast of the Scottish licensed trade this evening. But her perhaps not be pinned to as many dartboards.

Following a persuasive campaign led from various points across the Scottish late-night, tourism and hospitality sector, which has been labouring under a barrage of cost rises over recent years, the Finance Secretary offered a glimmer of hope as she announced the Scottish Budget for 2025/ 2026 in Holyrood today, at least for some.

Ms Robison announced that properties in the hospitality sector with a rateable value up and including £51,000 will receive 40% relief from business rates in the new financial year, up to a maximum of £110,000 per business. Along with the continuation of 100% rates relief for hospitality firms in the Scottish islands - a move first introduced in the Scottish Budget in December last year- the measures are expected to boost the bottom line of a good number of outlets, and come in addition to the continuation of support in the form of the small business bonus scheme.

However, industry groups were quick to point out that the 40% relief will not be a universal entitlement. Indeed, hospitality veteran Paul Waterson of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association declared that the measure “does nothing for the vast majority of licensed premises”.

Mr Waterson told The Herald: “Licensed hospitality is rated on turnover, not profit, so many relatively small pubs [and] bars and so on are over the £51,00 threshold. This means that anyone with a rateable value over £51,000 gets nothing.

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“When you put this together with the Westminster Budget, it can only mean a massive amount of closures and many jobs lost.”

Mr Waterson added: “It sounded good but does nothing for the vast majority of licensed hospitality.”

The point was also recognised by the Scottish Hospitality Group, which noted the decision to not include properties with a rateable value of higher than £51,000 means that many businesses will again receive no support at a time when the industry continues to face real pressure from rising costs. Huge tax rises in taxes and labour costs are also looming following the UK Budget, which will bring significant increases in employer national insurance contributions and the national living wage from April.

For businesses with properties valued at higher than £51,000, it will be the fourth year in a row that they have been denied support, the SHG said. In England, firms in the hospitality, leisure, and retail sectors in England will receive 40% relief from rates in 2025/ 2026, having already enjoyed 75% relief from business rates in the last two financial years, up to a maximum of £110,000 per business per year.

Director Stephen Montgomery said: “Whilst we welcome the Scottish Government’s offer of 40% business rates relief for a part of the industry, it is on a significantly more restricted basis than elsewhere in the UK and affords those above a rateable value of £51,000 absolutely nothing for a fourth year in a row - at a time when all licensed hospitality businesses need support.

“The reality is that this amounts to little more than a drop in the ocean given the spiralling costs faced by bars, restaurants, and hotels across Scotland.”

UKHospitality Scotland said the 40% relief is “very positive” for those businesses that are eligible. However, it calculated that 2,600 hospitality businesses will not be eligible for the benefit, with director Leon Thompson declaring such businesses now “face a double-whammy of increased employer taxes and an inflationary rise in their higher level of business rates in April”, The Scottish Beer & Pub Association took a ‘glass half-full’ approach as it assessed Ms Robison’s announcement. Chief executive Emma McClarkin said while not every pub will receive the support, the 40% relief some will be entitled to will “hopefully mean fewer closures over the next year and give the sector some added confidence moving forward”.

The Scottish Government’s attempt to help hospitality industry was probably the most eye-catching headline in a Budget with few major headlines from a business perspective.

There was some encouraging news for the north-east of the country, where business groups are campaigning hard to protect jobs as North Sea oil and gas activity begins to slow and to ensure the region benefits from the transition to renewable energy technologies. ETZ, a private sector, not-for-profit group set up to spearhead the north-east’s energy transition ambitions, welcomed the announcement of £150m of additional funding for offshore wind and the commitment to create offshore wind hub in Aberdeen. Amid ongoing concern that Scotland is not yet enjoying the renewables jobs boom that some politicians have promised, ETZ rightly declared that the “speeding up the planning and consenting of offshore wind projects, so they are commercially available, is vital if Scotland is to emerge as global leaders in this sector”.

Equally welcome for Scotland’s renewables hopes was Ms Robisons’ revelation that more than £300m of funding from the ScotWind auction round will indeed be used to fund long-term investment in the industry, and not diverted to other government spending as previously feared.

However, news that Scotland’s enterprise budget will be cut again will rightly cause some to question whether the Scottish Government is going the right way about generating growth.