Tartan Week for Them, Tax Hikes for Us

"When you go will you send back a letter from America." - The Proclaimers

Context: I’m fortunate enough to have the Minister of Trade, Douglas Alexander, as my Member of Parliament for East Lothian. Douglas wrote to the local press on his return from Tartan Week, relaying all the executive meetings he’d had: time for a reality check back home I thought.

Editor

East Lothian Courier

East Lothian

21st of April 2025

Dear Sir,

As Scotland’s political elite posed across the pond in kilted kitsch during Tartan Week, the Labour Chancellor back home launched an equally tasteless raid on business bank accounts. Our Musselburgh company saw an extra £600+ a month disappear—on top of the £40,000 a year we already pay in employer National Insurance contributions. Consequently, I wasn’t cheering on the revelers enjoying their annual taxpayer-funded knees-up in New York.

Rachel Reeves has yet to explain how small businesses can shoulder her new jobs tax. She expects payment—even when we’re operating at a loss. I suspect many business owners in East Lothian, already struggling with soaring costs, are working themselves into the ground just to cover for staff they can no longer afford to hire.

I spoke with a local butcher this week who had just been slapped with a £4,000 monthly electricity bill. No politician dancing the Gay Gordons down 6th Avenue has taken responsibility for the toe-breaking consequences of their “green” energy policies.

In 2024, there were 5.5 million small or medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK. These accounted for 99% of the business population, 60% of employment, and nearly half of total business turnover. Rather than hobnobbing with BlackRock executives in Manhattan, our Trade Minister should be backing the SMEs that are the bedrock of Scotland’s economy.

So, I’d like to ask Douglas Alexander MP: why should I keep hiring graduates in East Lothian when your party is making their labour uncompetitive? When will the crippling energy costs come down? And, what’s the point of building a family business only to hand the next generation with a 50% inheritance tax bill?

The problem with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is that nobody in his Cabinet has any experience of running a business. They think it’s all about award ceremonies and Venture Capital funding rounds when the reality for many SMEs is a daily grind trying to make monthly payroll.

Historically. enterprising Scots have passed Ellis Island on route to a better life in the USA. Unless the Labour Chancellor finds a formula for economic growth (and quick) then we’ll soon be singing to a fleeing Scottish diaspora again “when you go will you send back a letter from America”.

Calum Miller
Millersoft Director

(I’ll post his response, if any)