With events in Ukraine having a huge economic impact worldwide, two of Scotland’s top entrepreneurs have urged action to help mitigate the growing cost-of-living crisis, particularly for low-income households, across the country.

Speaking on the Go Radio Business Show With Hunter & Haughey, Sir Tom Hunter said: “The biggest threat is you have a dictator with his finger on a nuclear button and he doesn’t seem too shy about threatening to use it.

“I see families being separated. They’re now saying two million people have had to leave their own country. That’s almost half the population of Scotland. Every story is a heartbreak. There is a special place in hell for Putin, to be honest with you.

“In economic terms, however, I would urge Chancellor Rishi Sunak to cancel National Insurance [rises] for employers and employees. Cancel it now because that’s another drain coming out of disposable income.

“The UK consumer right now is faced with one of their biggest challenges, certainly in my lifetime.

“The Government doesn’t have money. They get it through taxation

of people and businesses and decide how it’s spent. So I’m asking for them to not bring in the National Insurance increase.”

Also speaking on the show, Lord Willie Haughey said: “The human tragedy in Ukraine is immeasurable.

"It looks like it’s going to get worse. I just hope at the moment that everyone in Nato, the European Union and the UK are piling in big time to help the people in Poland who just seem to have opened their gates to help in a way that no one else seems to have done.

“It is very difficult to be optimistic about anything. The ramifications for the war are horrendous. Also, what this could do to people here in the UK – putting people on the poverty line – is frightening.”

Sir Tom noted that Russia is the third largest producer of oil in the world, after America and Saudi Arabia, adding: “Petrol’s just hit £1.60 a litre here and it might be a bit more in different places. Russia is supplying the EU with 40% of its gas. Germany gets 42% of its gas from Russia.

“Only 5% of the UK’s gas comes from Russia, yet gas prices are up 142% since the beginning of the year. So what’s the alternative? The US has now said they will take no more from Russia but they saw energy as a national security issue a long time ago and through their fracking they have been able to become self-sufficient, which now looks clever.

“We don’t have the geography for the fracking on the scale of America, but we may need to start getting gas from fracking there. It’s quite hard to change your energy overnight.

“I was reading in The Herald that our First Minister was saying the North Sea isn’t the answer. Bringing on new fields takes a long time, but there are some short-term things we can do in the North Sea. I’m not the expert on it, but energy is now a national security issue.”

Lord Haughey agreed, telling the show’s host, Donald Martin, editor of The Herald and Herald on Sunday:

“I would urge the Government, especially the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy Kate Forbes, to consider putting the 10-year economic growth strategy on hold

and completely focus on how we can become self-sustainable. Let’s put a team together that could help us generate all of our own power.

“We should get some clever people in a room and see how we could lead a path over the next couple of years, as soon as we can to be self-sufficient in relation to our energy needs.”

Lord Haughey added: “The Government is going to have to step up to the plate. People will be getting their electricity and gas cut off. The first thing they [Government] should do is ensure that can’t happen. We must give people time to get through this and hope it levels out in the prices. Unfortunately, history tells us when prices go up, it’s hard to get them to go back down.”