CALL TO RESTORE, RECOVER & RENEW AS COUNCIL CANDIDATES IN MORAY URGED TO BACK LOCAL BUSINESSES

CALL TO RESTORE, RECOVER & RENEW AS COUNCIL CANDIDATES IN MORAY URGED TO BACK LOCAL BUSINESSES

Moray Chamber of Commerce is calling for the Moray Council candidates to give their backing to local businesses if elected ahead of the local government elections taking place on Thursday 5^th May.

Moray Chamber of Commerce is encouraging candidates to ‘Rally for Growth’ by backing a pledge to Restore, Recover and Reform the trading environment for local businesses.

The pledge asks potential Councillors to support local and regional economic growth by committing to pro-business and pro-enterprise policies as well as voicing their opposition to the introduction of any new taxes or levies being placed on local businesses for the duration of the next term.

The Moray Chamber Restore, Recover and Reform pledge asks candidates to commit to:

1. Back local businesses and employees by opposing a Workplace Parking Levy
2. Protect local businesses and consumers from a low-emission zones Commuter Tax
3. Rebuild the hard-hit tourism and hospitality sectors by opposing the Tourist Tax
4. Support the long-overdue reform of business rates
5. Help to secure additional local and regional business support from Scottish and UK Government

Commenting, Sarah Medcraf Chief Executive of Moray Chamber of Commerce said:

“Businesses in Moray have had an incredibly tough time over the past two years due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and local government has a crucial role to play in not only helping businesses recovery but securing long-term growth in the local area.

“We want candidates to Rally for Growth locally by committing to restore business and consumer confidence to pre-pandemic, help our hardest hit sectors such as tourism and retail fully recover by opposing new business taxes and levies and finally for support to reform Scotland’s long overdue business rates regime.

“With strong economic headwinds forecast, businesses continue to face an increasingly complex set of challenges as they balance growth with inflation hitting a 30-year-high, rising energy prices and falling consumer spending as the cost-of-living crisis begins to take hold.

“Our businesses on the ground here in Moray are made of tough stuff but the continual increase of pressures is too much. We need to act now to help create an environment for them to flourish and thrive. We need to move away from looking at business failure numbers as a measure to see how businesses are doing. Many of these businesses have been family owned for generations or are ambitious entrepreneurs and they are fiercely passionate about what they do, their people and the community they operate in. They will not go down without a fight but eventually, unless the landscape changes significantly, there will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

“By committing to restore, recover and renew the trading environment for local businesses by opposing new business and consumer taxes in the form of low emission zones, the workplace parking levy and the tourist tax, local councillors can demonstrate that they understand local businesses concerns and support our business build back plan. We want all local candidates from across the political spectrum to get behind local businesses, help them get back on their feet and give businesses the certainty they need that council administrations across Scotland will back businesses, assist economic recovery and boost growth.”