SNP pushes for Westminster funding pledges at business launch

Nicola Sturgeon has launched her party's business platform ahead of May's UK general election, demanding a series of funding commitments from a government over which she looks increasingly likely to have an influence.

The Scottish National party leader on Monday called for Westminster funding for a range of projects north of the border, including a faster devolution of air passenger duty and extra money for housing and rural communications.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Pushing for measures such as the early devolution of APD, an increase in infrastructure investment, a universal service obligation for broadband and the inclusion of Scotland in Westminster's High Speed 2 plans will improve connectivity and remove barriers for businesses in remote and rural parts of the country."

The SNP's dominance in the Scottish polls was further underlined on Monday morning with a survey from TNS showing the party on 52 per cent, with Labour on just 24 per cent. That result would be enough to secure the party 56 out of 59 Scottish seats if the swing is the same in every constituency.

This has led to renewed interest in what the SNP might push for if involved in a government alongside Labour. Ms Sturgeon spelled out some of these demands on Monday, calling for a range of measures likely to require additional money from taxpayers or businesses outside Scotland.

The measures include acting more quickly to devolve APD, an unpopular tax in Scotland, which the Westminster government has promised to tackle during the next parliament.

The SNP also called for more money to be spent on improving superfast broadband and mobile phone reception to rural areas as well as on extending the planned HS2 rail line to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Ms Sturgeon also called for a law forcing companies and government bodies to pay suppliers on time.

The package is designed to win support in the business community, parts of which have expressed outright hostility to the SNP's policies. One FTSE 100 chief executive recently said: "The current SNP leadership has a pretty unreconstructed 1970s socialist agenda."

The demands in the business manifesto fall well short of independence, or even the full fiscal autonomy which the SNP says it wants to achieve in the long run. One company executive said: "The party has always tried to reassure people and maintain a broad coalition of supporters, except when forced to show its hand in the independence referendum. This is a return to the gradualist approach it showed before last September."

Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish chambers of commerce, said: "The call for early devolution of air passenger duty, a renewed focus on capital spending on infrastructure and retaining our position as a member of the EU mirror some of our priorities for the Scottish economy. On the other hand, we believe that the party's record on business rates while in government in Scotland is much weaker than they have claimed."

CBI Scotland, the employers' group, welcomed the "focus on policies that help make Scotland more competitive".

Some in business remain concerned about the SNP's move to the left in recent months. David Watt, executive director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, said: "A lot of businesses have real concerns about the SNP's move the left. Measures like implementing the 'living wage' will prove costly to a lot of companies."

But the relationship between the SNP and the Scottish business community has improved since last year, when several executives accused Scottish ministers of trying to silence them during the referendum debate.

Mr Watt said: "They are listening, and measures like pushing for laws on prompt payment show they are taking account of the views of many of our members."

Another executive suggested the detente was based more on pragmatism: "The SNP's politics are determined by what can best achieve independence. They are true believers - and nothing we can say will change that."

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