Over £4.5 billion of funding has been allocated by the SNP Government to help businesses in North Ayrshire and across Scotland since the start of the pandemic.
A report published by Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission has highlighted the scale and pace of the emergency business support from the SNP Government in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The SNP Government maintained clear priorities of targeting support at businesses that needed it most and helping them survive, protecting thousands of jobs across the country as well as supporting businesses to encourage compliance with the necessary public health restrictions.
The report also acknowledges the tailored support provided to ensure businesses, large and small, had access to vital lifelines. This included the launch of bespoke grants which have supported over 4,000 businesses and over 5,000 self-employed who were facing hardship but ineligible for UK support.
Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“The SNP Government has been more generous to businesses than any other UK administration including the Tory Government.
“Ever decision in this regard was based providing the support businesses needed when they needed it – resulting in over £4.5 billion being allocated to businesses across Scotland, including around £1.6 billion in rates relief.
“The findings of this useful report will be considered, but it is great to see the it confirmed that the SNP Government’s decisive action ensured lifeline support reached key businesses promptly and our economy continued to grow by 7.1% despite the necessary public health restrictions – as opposed to 6.6% in the rest of the UK..”
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