Dr Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce made a statement reacting to the confirmation from Scottish Ministers that the Scottish Government will not proceed with a legislative ban on shops opening to customers on New Year’s Day.
“The Scottish Chambers of Commerce network opposed these plans from the outset and businesses across Scotland will be extremely relieved to see that plans to ban them from trading on New Year’s Day have now been abandoned.
“Many of Scotland’s businesses are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic as the prolonged period of restrictions, across all sectors, has severely reduced their ability to trade or to do businesses at all over the past 18 months. This has been acutely felt in the retail sector where struggling high streets and town centres have already experienced a spate of closures and are still struggling to encourage footfall back to sustainable levels due to the shift to online retail.
“Although we have seen recent growth in the Scottish economy, this recovery is fragile, and we are still a significant distance away from pre-pandemic levels. The introduction of a New Year’s Day trading ban would have been a backwards step for Scotland’s economic development and our recovery.
“Businesses across Scotland remain focussed on recovery, staying open, operating at increasing capacity and protecting jobs. It was always clear that where there is customer demand and availability of staff, it should be the decision of businesses themselves if they wish to trade on New Year’s Day and we welcome today’s decision.
