SMALL BUSINESSES: HARVIE WELCOMES FSB PRIORITIES
Patrick Harvie MSP, Finance and Economy spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, today (14 Oct) welcomed the call from the Federation of Small Businesses to put local economies and small firms at the top of the 2016 election agenda.
The FSB publication "Resilient Economies, Resilient Communities" mirrors a number of points made in the Scottish Greens' publication "An economy for people".
Key overlaps include targeting regulation to make life easier for small firms, and encouraging public bodies to support local business through procurement.
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green MSP for Glasgow and a member of Holyrood's economy committee, said:
"This is a welcome contribution from the FSB. Scottish Greens want to see a small business revolution. Compared to larger corporations they are more likely to be locally owned, have roots in the community and circulate profits and wages locally.
"All too often what is called the voice of business is the voice of big business; it's time Scotland listened to its SMEs, as they support almost half of all private sector jobs. It's time we supported small firms rather than giving generous public grants to multinationals who are here today gone tomorrow.
"With a national housing retrofit programme we could create thousands of opportunities for local contractors, with a single port of call for micro-businesses we can help start-ups more easily, and with better public transport links throughout Scotland, not just between the main cities, we can spread the creation of good jobs to all our communities."