Put small independent retailers at the heart of your agenda, Scottish election candidates told

Ahead of next week’s elections, the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) in Scotland has again called on all parties to put small shops at the heart of the agenda, whoever forms the resulting government.

The Fed’s Scottish president Uthayakumar Soundararajan reaffirmed the importance of its manifesto for small shops, which was launched in January and highlighted the action required to tackle retail crime, measures to control business rates and the swift adoption of DRS for recycling when it is launched in October next year.

Mr Soundararajan, who is a retailer in Edinburgh, said: “We shared our manifesto with political parties earlier this year and continue to urge them to engage with us in the need to defend small shops through measures which limit commercial and government costs, reduce retail crime and help us prepare for big changes like DRS.

“In recent months, we have highlighted the need for retail crime in Scotland to be tackled by better police responses, including an enhanced role for the Police Scotland Retail Crime Taskforce and greater resourcing for trading standards teams across the country.”

In recent weeks, retail has come to the centre of the debate in Scotland, following the SNP’s announcement it would place price caps on certain goods stocked at large Scottish supermarkets.

Mr Soundararajan said: “Whilst this is not likely to affect our members directly, we are concerned this will distort trade and do nothing to help shops or their customers. Across the sector, retail is a very competitive market and small shops play an important part in it.

“The devil will be in the detail on this, but questions remain about how it will have an impact on different retailers – big and small, online and the High Street, and those across the border in England – and it could cause unnecessary complexity and uncertainty.

“The Fed’s prime concern in terms of new price inflation is the impact of the Iran War which will be challenging for shops and shoppers alike. We want to work with the Scottish government and other stakeholders on realistic policies to limit its impact.”