'Strategy delivering' despite falls

Aug 1 2012

The Scottish Government's economic strategy is "delivering results" despite a drop in retail sales last quarter, according to Finance Secretary John Swinney.

Retail sales volume, the average amount of goods traded at basic prices, fell by 0.3% in Scotland between April and June.

Retail sales value, the average overall cost of the goods sold, fell by 0.6%. This contrasts with 0.1% growth in volume and a 0.3% drop in value across the UK as a whole during the same period. Annually, Scottish retail sales volume grew by 0.6%, in line with the UK, but retail sales value grew more slowly at 2.4% compared with UK-wide growth of 3.2%.

Mr Swinney repeated his call for the UK Government to adopt an economic plan B, citing Scotland's "higher employment rate" and "stronger GDP performance".

He said: "Official figures show that the retail sales performance over the year continues to show growth in Scotland but with a small fall in the volume and value of retail sales in the second quarter of 2012.

"The 0.3% fall in volume and 0.6% fall in sales in the latest quarter contrasts with the upwards trend we have seen over the year, with the volume of retail sales growing by 0.6% and value increasing by 2.4%.

"The retail sector can be assured that this Government is doing all we can to maintain Scotland's position as the most supportive business environment in the UK through actions such as the Small Business Bonus Scheme and other reliefs which provides zero or reduced business rates for 63% of retail premises in Scotland.

"The Scottish Government and our enterprise agencies are working tirelessly to strengthen the economy with the powers we currently have. And our economic strategy is delivering results: Scotland has a consistently higher employment rate than the UK as a whole and a stronger GDP performance than the UK over the past six months.

"With the full economic and financial powers of independence, we could maximise Scotland's economic success and prosperity, and in the meantime we need the UK Government to adopt a plan B with increased capital investment at its heart, in order to boost growth and employment and create the conditions for sustained economic recovery."

Labour finance spokesman Ken Macintosh said: "These figures show that the Scottish economy continues to be fragile and with poor summer weather, we can expect 2012 to be a difficult year for Scottish retail. Our high streets will continue to suffer until both the Scottish and Westminster governments begin to get people back into work and invest in capital projects which get money into Scots' pockets, which can then be spent in our shops."