Make your choice

Ahead of the Scottish Election on Thursday 7 May, we’ve highlighted the SNP, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour manifesto pledges most relevant to convenience retailers to help you decide which party is most deserving of your vote.

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Key pledges from the SNP manifesto

Small Business Bonus maintained

We will ensure that our non-domestic rates system aligns with Scotland’s economic ambitions, while protecting the Small Business Bonus, which supports more than 100,000 small businesses.

Rebalance business rates system

We will rebalance the system to make it fairer and more accountable, and to ensure that online giants like Amazon pay their fair share and contribute to their local communities.

Price cap on large supermarket food essentials

We will take a public health intervention to establish statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 essential food items at large supermarkets, such as bread, milk and eggs to provide tangible relief to families struggling with grocery bills, ensuring that necessities for a balanced diet remain affordable.

The system would require large supermarkets to make one example line of the listed essential food items available at the capped price and would not require them to make every variation of that type of food they stock available at that price. As with Minimum Unit Pricing, we would introduce a sunset clause through the legislation to ensure that it was effective in order to continue.

Hold a referendum on independence with a view to rejoining EU

A vote for the SNP is a vote for a referendum on independence.

An independent Scotland would rejoin the EU swiftly to guarantee free trade with the world’s biggest single market, higher economic growth, greater security and increased exchange opportunities for young Scots.

Request transfer of energy powers to Holyrood

Ahead of independence, we will formally request the transfer of energy powers from Westminster to Holyrood and we will use those powers to end the practice of gas setting the price for an energy system dominated by renewable energy to lower bills.

With independence we can create energy savings for businesses of at least one-third.

Planning system reform

We will further simplify regulation and reform the planning system, speeding up decision making, including reforming Compulsory Purchase Orders and exploring Compulsory Sales Orders.

Community Wealth Building Bill

We will take forward the actions outlined in the Community Wealth Building Bill, to keep wealth circulating locally, regionally and nationally, and ensuring that economic benefits are broadly shared rather than concentrated. We will increase the number of employee-owned businesses operating in Scotland to 500 by 2030.

Town centre regeneration

We will continue to take a strategic approach to delivering our regeneration ambitions, including revitalising town centres and encouraging town centre living, addressing the blight of vacant and derelict land and supporting community ownership.

We will invest further in our Business Improvement Districts as a driver of town centre regeneration.

Retail Crime Taskforce £10m funding

We will provide £10 million over the next three years to tackle retail crime through Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce.

Establish a Last Provider Fund

To support rural communities we will establish a Last Provider Fund to help keep open shops and pubs who are the last remaining providers in rural and island communities, after the UK Government closed the Community Ownership Fund.

Introduce a Vape Display Ban

We will introduce a Vape Display Ban, treating the display of vapes in the same way as tobacco products, including banning the advertising, promotion and retail visibility of vapes and nicotine pouches.

Call for Devolution of Employment Law

We continue to call on Westminster to fully devolve Employment Law to strengthen workers rights, and tackle poor and insecure employment practices. This will ensure that Scotland’s workers are not at the mercy of Tory or Reform governments who will seek to erode their rights.

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Key pledges from the Scottish Conservatives manifesto

No business rates for properties with a rateable value under £20,000

The Scottish Conservatives would guarantee that all businesses with a current rateable value of less than £20,000 would pay no business rates with no requirement to apply for business rates relief.

End ‘cliff edge’ rates jumps

For businesses falling just above this threshold, they would only be taxed on the value of their property above the zero-rate threshold. So a property currently valued at £21,000 would only pay tax on the £1,000 above £20,000. This rule would apply for each subsequent threshold.

Lower business rates for small and medium-sized retailers

We would introduce lower business rates for small and medium-sized retail, hospitality and leisure companies in Scotland, providing them with the long-term security they need to stay open for business.

Set a cap on maximum increases businesses will face ahead of revaluation process

The most recent revaluation process for business rates caused significant anxiety for business owners in Scotland and we must avoid this in the future. The Scottish Conservatives would address this by setting out in advance a cap on the maximum possible increase a company could face in its business rates bill ahead of the revaluation process, tied to the RPI measure of inflation. This would provide businesses with the certainty they need to plan investment, staffing and cashflow.

Three-year rates freeze for businesses that upgrade their properties

Although businesses can currently get a business rates freeze for 12 months for properties that undergo physical improvements, that window is too short for companies to see a return on their investment, so we would extend that period to three years.

Merging assessors into one body responsible for valuing commercial properties

Currently, there are 14 different assessors across Scotland, responsible for valuing all non-domestic property. The only route of appeal is through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland which provides very limited scope for challenge in practice.

We would tackle this problem by merging the separate assessors into a single national body. This body would be led by a Chief Assessor who would issue guidance on valuation practice and provide a formal route for resolving disputes. This would ensure consistency of treatment across the country.

Rent auctions for commercial properties left empty for 18 months

To end the blight of empty shop fronts on our high streets, we would also empower councils to introduce rent auctions for commercial properties that have been purposefully left vacant by their owners. If a property is left empty for 18 months, either in a row or within a 24-month period, councils would be able to start a rent auction for the property where prospective tenants bid against each other for access to the shop.

Ditch council car parking charges for stays of up to two hours

To attract people back to our town centres, we would provide local authorities with funding to abolish council car parking charges for stays of two hours or less.

Introduce a Reduction of Red Tape Bill

We would introduce a Reduction of Red Tape Bill that would start the mass repeal of harmful, anti-business legislation passed under the SNP.

We would consult directly with businesses to identify the regulations that are economically damaging and, where ministers agree, would repeal or amend them.

Oppose restrictions on alcohol advertising

The Scottish Conservatives want to support our food and drink industry, so we would promise not to implement harmful regulation on the sector and specifically commit to opposing any restrictions on alcohol advertising, marketing and sponsorship in Scotland.

Scrap Minimum Unit Pricing

We would scrap Minimum Unit Pricing and instead increase support for alcohol addiction services across the country after the SNP cut drug and alcohol policy funding in real terms in the last Budget.

Scrap 2045 net zero targets and prioritise lowering energy costs

Overhaul Scottish Government energy policy so that its main objective is to lower costs for households and businesses, rather than reaching arbitrary net zero targets.

Tougher enforcement against illicit vape sales

We support the ban on disposable vapes and want to see tougher enforcement against those who break the rules regarding the sale of vapes in Scotland. We will bring in tougher punishments for vape shop owners who fail to comply with rules and regulations including jail time.

Mandatory fire safety checks for all vape shops

While it is not known if this was the cause of the March 2026 fire on Union Street in Glasgow, we would introduce mandatory fire safety checks for all vape shops, with fire officers able to intervene if they see a potential fire hazard with the storage of these batteries.

Prison for shoplifters who are convicted of three separate offences

We would end the current practice of dealing with the majority of serial shoplifters through fines, as this has not deterred reoffending. Instead, a shoplifter who is convicted of three separate offences will go to prison unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The Scottish Conservatives would legislate to treat organised crime groups like terrorists, whereby proven members could be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

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Key pledges from the Scottish Labour manifesto

Replace business rates system with a local business levy

Abolishing the unfair business rates system, replacing it with a new local business levy which incentivises local investment, supports vibrant town centres, tackles empty properties, and encourages entrepreneurship. We will work with the business sector and local authorities to develop our local business levy. Changes would be revenue neutral but better balanced to support retail and hospitality in town centres and promote local economic growth.

Ensure online retailers and large distribution warehouses pay their fair share and appoint a Chief Assessor so there is true accountability over valuations.

Improve local police presence

Return police officers back to the front line in communities, cutting back on the time officers spend waiting to give evidence in an outdated court system and reducing hours spent on non-police work.

Give every neighbourhood a named community and crime prevention officer, to work across council wards responding to crime, gathering intelligence and building relationships with retailers, schools and community groups to reduce offending in high crime areas.

Make the police accountable to local people, restoring the statutory obligation for local police divisions to consult on local policing plans and within the first 100 days of government set out new Strategic Policing Priorities that focus on community policing.

Prosecute shoplifters and expand remit of Retail Crime Taskforce

Prosecuting shoplifting, expanding the remit of the Retail Crime taskforce beyond the central belt. Crime prevention officers will support better coordination between businesses in high crime areas and work with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to ensure those who do not pay fiscal fines face court action.

Reduce court delays

Modernising the court system to reduce delays, fast-tracking the plans to digitise the sharing of evidence and carrying out a productivity review of scheduling in the High Court and Appeal Court, learning from the Summary Case Management initiative.

Prevent the promotion of vaping to non-smokers

Expanding smoking cessation programmes, preventing the promotion of vaping to non-smokers and young people, and gathering more robust data on the rate of young people taking up smoking and vaping.

Introduce single use cups charge

Tackling littering and waste from drinks’ containers, rolling out the Deposit Return Scheme and introducing a small charge for single-use takeaway cups.

Work with supermarkets to reduce sales of food with no nutritional value

Working with supermarkets to promote healthy food promotions and reduce sales of food with no nutritional value.

Recoup the profits from Minimum unit pricing from large retailers to fund rehabilitation services

Investing in alcohol and substance misuse recovery services, maintaining national funding and recouping the profits from minimum unit pricing from large retailers to fund frontline rehabilitation services.