During the campaign, the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers wrote to all three candidates to help save the £867m Scottish self-catering industry which remains under threat from onerous government regulations including short-term let licensing.
Fiona Campbell, CEO of the Scottish Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said:
“The ASSC warmly congratulates Humza Yousaf on becoming leader of the SNP. Like others in the small business community, we seek a reset in relations with the Scottish Government and look forward to positive and constructive dialogue with Scotland’s next First Minister and his new ministerial team in the weeks ahead.
There’s a lot more we can do to support our vitally important Scottish tourism industry during these challenging times. We were heartened by Mr Yousaf’s commitment to an “open door” policy to business stakeholders as there is much to discuss in order to change and ameliorate policies which are negatively impacting our sector.
Small businesses in Scotland are the lifeblood of our economy and they need to backed, not burdened. For short-term let regulation, we have a proportionate and balanced solution which will meet policy objectives without damaging Scottish tourism and we sincerely hope that this can now be actively considered by the Scottish Government.”