Kate Forbes, finance secretary

The chancellor announced that UK businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are to receive a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 in response to the latest COVID-19 lockdown measures.

The chancellor said that the Scottish Government would receive a further £375 million to offer direct support to Scottish businesses. However, Ms Forbes said that the announcement of initial funding in England will not, ‘despite the initial indications’, generate further new funding for the Scottish Government or other devolved administrations.

Ms Forbes said that this is a blow to Scottish businesses whose expectations had been raised by the announcement, and I will be writing to the Chancellor to raise the issue.

She said: “We fully understand that while the tight new restrictions now in force are necessary to slow spread of the virus, they represent another blow for businesses. That is why we have allocated £570m since October to helping businesses, and this sum will rise due to the number of new businesses eligible for support under the latest lockdown restrictions.

“Our priority is to ensure that assistance reaches those most in need as quickly as possible. In recent weeks we have announced an extra £185m of sectoral support, including one-off grants for hospitality businesses, an additional £41m top up support for non-essential retail and gyms and a £30m local authority discretionary fund.”