THE SNP Government has merely "delayed" a cliff edge for retail and hospitality businesses after announcing only a three-month 50 per cent rates relief in its draft Scottish Budget.

Under the plans, retail, leisure and hospitality businesses will receive 50% off their rates bill for just three months in the next financial year, with Scottish pubs bosses left “disappointed” by the announcement after the UK Government made the same announcement for traders in England, but for 12 months.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes pointed to her 100% rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation over the last two years, adding that “we were also the first government to offer the certainty of a relief in 2021-22 when businesses needed it most”.

Ms Forbes said that “recognising that we have offered the most generous rates relief anywhere in the UK for the last two years and the importance of phasing the return of rates liabilities”, she confirmed that “rates relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will continue at 50% for the first three months of 2022-23, capped at £27,500 per ratepayer.”

Small businesses with a rateable value of less than £15,000 will continue to be exempt from paying business rates for the whole year.

She claimed the move “will prevent a cliff edge for businesses in those sectors”.

But Labour’s finance spokesperson, Daniel Johnson, warned that the cliff edge for businesses was merely being moved back by three months.

He said: “High streets and local shops are the heart of our communities, but they face a bleak New Year.

“With to let boards springing up across Scotland, it is not enough to write off retail into a managed decline and just resetting that cliff edge three months into the summer.”

The Conservatives’ finance spokesperson, Liz Smith said her party “wanted the SNP to extend 75% rates relief to customer-facing businesses in the next financial year”, claiming the ask “would be worth £631m to businesses”.

She added: “We think businesses will be disappointed by today’s Budget statement.”

Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said the support did not go far enough in helping businesses recover from the pandemic.

He said: “Today’s budget announcement sends a clear and stark message to Scotland’s tourism industry that the short-term extension of business rates relief is effectively the one last lifeline of support available.

“The cliff edge the Finance Secretary refers to will only be delayed until June 2022 when the impact will be felt hard by businesses across all sectors within our industry.

“Many businesses are already expressing disappointment and shock that the future relief doesn’t match what has been announced by the UK Government.”

The Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SPBA) had called for a 50% rates cut for another 12 months, as traders in England were given this in Rishi Sunak’s Budget.

An SBPA spokesperson said: “This is a disappointing Budget for the beer and pub sector. The support on business rates falls short of what many pubs require, especially just as the sector hopes to get back on its feet.

“We have been enormously grateful for the relief previously given by the Kate Forbes and the Scottish Government, but this effectively creates two cliff edges moving forward into the new year.

“The Scottish Government should have, at the very least, matched the support offered by the UK Government of 50% discount for the whole of 2022/23 - not just the first three months.

“With the Omicron variant raising fears and impacting on consumer confidence, our sector will require additional targeted support going forward to avoid losing any more of Scotland’s much-loved pubs.” Tracy Black, the director of CBI Scotland director, said there are “some helpful interventions for businesses” in the Budget, but warned there is “little to get excited about”.

She added: “The removal of the business rates cliff edge in April for hospitality, retail and tourism firms will be welcomed, however many will be disappointed that the Government hasn’t gone further – particularly as uncertainty around Omicron gathers pace.

“Overall, business shares the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer, greener and more prosperous economy. Firms will be keen to see how the forthcoming National Economic Transformation Strategy turns ambition into action; setting Scotland on a path towards competitiveness, dynamism and productivity growth – which is the only sustainable route to higher living standards.”

Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chamber of Commerce, said that businesses would welcome the temporary rates relief, but insisted “this should have gone further to give businesses the time they need to recover from this incredibly challenging period”.

She added: “Scotland’s town and city centres have already lost thousands of businesses over the past twenty months and prolonged periods of home working have made the trading conditions for brick-and-mortar retailers tougher than ever, and many ratepayers will question if this extension goes far enough to support them.

“It was also disappointing that the Scottish Budget failed to confirm whether or not the long awaited NDR Revaluation due to take place in 2023 will go ahead as planned.”

Andrew McRae, the Scotland policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said Ms Forbes’ Budget will “put a little fuel in the tank” for traders but warned that with the pandemic continuing, politicians may “need to look at other means of helping firms over the line”.

He added: ”We know that the Covid crisis made many traditional Scottish businesses turn to digital technologies, but today we didn’t hear new commitments from the Cabinet Secretary to help firms realise their ambitions on this front.

“On rates, the Scottish Government has done the right thing by retaining their vital small business bonus scheme. And retail and hospitality businesses outside the scope of this help will recognise that ongoing, though reduced, support for their sectors is better than a cliff-edge withdrawal.

“However, there’s a compelling case to further extend the duration and level of this relief for independent operators especially if we’re not out of the woods by the spring.”

Colin Wilkinson, managing director of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: “Just when hospitality businesses were beginning to get back on their feet, along comes the Omicron variant to throw a spanner in the works so the news in today’s Scottish Budget is a welcome step towards aiding our recovery, but more targeted support will be needed.

“People are understandably nervous about going out and about pre-Christmas and despite the efforts of the sector to provide a controlled and one of the safest environment settings as possible, this has resulted in a raft of cancellations of festive drinks, lunches and nights out so the gains that many were hoping for during this key trading period will not be what businesses were hoping for and indeed needed for their survival.

“However, as we have previously pointed out, there is an urgent need for a change to the current system of business rates as it is clear that the current system penalises hospitality businesses and is no longer fit for purpose in a world of online sales and the advantages that some sectors, supermarkets for example, have enjoyed during the lockdowns and periods of restricted opening for hospitality.”