Following the Scottish National Party’s (SNP’s) election win on Friday, the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) has stated that its “number one ask” of ScotGov will be to tackle retail crime and the illicit trade.
Despite winning 58 seats, SNP fell seven seats short of an outright majority with six less seats than the last election in 2021. The election saw major gains for Reform UK, which tied with Labour for second place, both parties winning 17 seats. The Scottish Green Party and Lib Dems both more than doubled their parliamentary seats, to 15 and 10 respectively, while the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party lost 19 seats, leaving them with 12. Almost half of the MSPs are new to parliament, the highest number of newcomers since the first election in 1999.
SGF said it would engage with MSPs to understand how elected representatives plan to support the industry on issues including crime, illicit trade, business rates, the environment and public health. The group will also discuss MSPs’ participation in the Cross Party Group on Independent Convenience Stores, which is due to reconvene.
SGF has claimed that there is a need for a meaningful review of the impact of overregulation and the cost of doing business in Scotland.
“At times when global economic pressures are at an all-time high, the Scottish Government should be working to back sectors such as ours, not bring in ever tighter restrictions, higher taxation, and a conveyor belt of new regulations,” said SGF Chief Executive Dr Pete Cheema OBE.
“Urgently tackling the growing trend in retail crime and illicit trade will of course be our number one ask for the new government. Ensuring, not only that the funding for the Retail Crime Taskforce is secured, but also adequate provision for Trading Standards and the wider justice system.
“The local convenience sector is at the very heart of communities across Scotland. Early engagement with the cabinet and the First Minister is a core responsibility to ensure the new government fully understands the needs of the retail sector.”
Separately, in the run-up to the election, SGF had raised concerns over the SNP’s pledge to cap prices on essential foods sold in large supermarkets, claiming that the policy could create competitive disadvantage for small local stores and potentially distort the market through changing consumer behaviour.
SNP pledged to establish statutory price ceilings on a basket of 20 to 50 essential food items at large supermarkets, such as bread, milk and eggs. The system would require the outlets to make one example line of the listed essential food items available at the capped price.
At the time, Luke McGarty, SGF Head of Policy, said that SGF would engage fully with the consultation process and seek to engage ministers on this policy if the SNP were returned to government.
