SNP Westminster leader demands urgent review of UK's anti-business policies
SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan has challenged the UK government to scrap employer national insurance hikes to prevent further job losses and economic stagnation. The call comes amid a debate regarding the impact of current fiscal policies on Scottish businesses.
The UK Government is being challenged to launch an “urgent review” of “anti-business policies”, with the new SNP Westminster leader saying measures such as the hike in employers’ national insurance contributions should be “scrapped as soon as possible”. Dave Doogan made the demand as he pledged he would be an “unashamedly pro-business voice in the UK Parliament”.
Doogan has pledged to act as an "unashamedly pro-business voice in the UK Parliament", stating that he intends to champion support for the business community. He explicitly identified the hike in employers’ national insurance contributions as a policy that should be "scrapped as soon as possible".
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Critique of Fiscal Management
The SNP Westminster leader’s criticism extends to the current taxation environment within the North Sea energy sector, which he described as a "punitive tax regime". Mr Doogan insisted that “damaging Labour government policies”, including the rise in employers’ national insurance charges and the “punitive tax regime” in the North Sea, are “hammering businesses and destroying thousands of Scottish jobs”.
He said that “Britain’s broken economy still hasn’t revived from the 2008 financial crash”, with the MP adding that the UK had seen “20 years of stagnation” with “poor wages, rising living costs, flatlining economic growth, low productivity and the self-inflicted disaster of Brexit”.
With the latest figures showing the UK’s unemployment rate is 4.9%, compared with 4.2% when Sir Keir Starmer’s party came to power in 2024, Mr Doogan said that under Labour joblessness has risen to a five-year high. There are already 300,000 more unemployed people since the Labour Party got into power – and there are credible warnings that another quarter of a million could lose their jobs in the next year if they don’t act.
Government and Opposition Responses
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: “The Budget allowed us to stabilise the economy and deliver support for families and businesses and we are seeing some welcome signs including 332,000 more people in work than a year ago, while the UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first quarter of this year.
We’re backing businesses with a £4.3 billion support package to cap business rates, a £4bn access to finance boost for SMEs as well as tough action on late payments and we’re backing millions of workers with a recent increase to the minimum wage.”
Scottish Labour finance spokesperson Michael Marra said: “Dave Doogan and the SNP have a real brass neck to be making such claims about the UK Government when their own ministers at Holyrood have such a poor record in supporting businesses in Scotland.
- From the impact of their hike to business rates, botched policy like the deposit return scheme, and their refusal to support Scotland’s hospitality industry, their decisions are taking a real toll on our economy.
The SNP must explain what they will do to help businesses in Scotland with the powers they have in Edinburgh, rather than trying to shift the blame elsewhere.”
Future Outlook
The SNP MP vowed: “I will press the UK government for real action to support businesses now, while making the case that the past 20 years of Westminster failure shows why Scotland needs the full powers and fresh start of independence.”
