Labour Business Summit was just for cameras

Commenting on Labour’s ‘Business Summit’ which was hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Carrie Ruxton, Scottish Conservative candidate in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, said:

“If Labour wants to take lessons in business, they should look at the final year of the last Conservative government, when there were 155 more VAT registrations than deregistrations in Fife. Contrast this with 2004, when there were 20 more de-registrations than registrations. The Conservatives created a climate for businesses to open, whereas a near-decade of Labour has set us all back.

“What Labour doesn’t realise that staging a ‘business summit’ for the cameras won’t fool anybody and isn’t going to solve the many problems that Labour and the Liberal Democrats have created. There is an uncertainty surrounding the future of Fife as a place to do business.

“The best way to remove this uncertainty is to sort out the well-documented difficulties we have with transport – most notably the Forth Road Bridge – so goods and services can move more freely. The promised reduction in business rates must be implemented now to give us a level playing field with the rest of the United Kingdom. Action must also be taken to rid us of the red tape which holds back growth.

“Until the Executive parties replace hastily arranged ‘business summits’ with a pro-active agenda that addresses these issues, we won’t get anywhere.”

Dunfermline Conservatives