Alex Salmond shows sympathy for rates protesters in north-east

Alex Salmond has admitted some complaints over huge business rate rises are “legitimate”, days after a leading hotelier and close friend of the former first minister called for a nationwide boycott of swingeing increases.

In the wake of a widespread outcry over a rates hike that has left some businesses facing increases of up to 400 per cent, he said there were companies that were “feeling the hard edge”  of the revaluation.

His comments, in a video blog for a local newspaper, will heap further pressure on the Scottish Government to intervene.

Mr Salmond was speaking after Stewart Spence, owner of the five-star Marcliffe Hotel in Aberdeen and a friend of the MP, said he would not pay the 25 per cent increase he is facing and called on other firms to join him.

He told The Daily Telegraph he had since been contacted by independent hoteliers, restaurant and pub owners ready to join a non-payment campaign.

Mr Spence also expressed disappointment over Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to react to the row and said he was considering leaving the SNP, which he joined around eight years ago.

Mr Salmond said in the video that ministers deserved credit for the “small business bonus” which exempted many companies from rates.

But he added there was an argument against some of the rises, saying: “Of course people are feeling the hard edge of it, and in the north-east of Scotland there’s a very legitimate case because of the date of estimation, when independent valuation officers made their assessment, and when, because of oil, the economy was much stronger than it is now.

“That’s why I welcome the Aberdeenshire Council initiative to put pounds3 million into rate relief to try and take some of the edge off the hardest cases, because in times like this we need our businesses to feel wanted, to be able to grow, to be able to survive and to be able to prosper in the future.

“But don’t tell me that any rates revaluation doesn’t have an outcry because they all do – that applies in England, that applies in Scotland.”

Mr Salmond said the argument should be concentrated on the cases of genuine concern where “huge increases seem to be applied following a time of economics which was quite different from the reality that we are experiencing now in the north-east of Scotland”.

Ministers have been asked for help by tourism, licensed trade and hospitality groups, but Derek Mackay, the finance minister, has responded by saying rating valuations are carried out by independent assessors and funded by councils, not government.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservative spokesman, said that if Mr Mackay would not listen to the firms affected, perhaps he might “listen to his former boss.”

Mr Spence revealed last week that the revaluation - the first since 2010 - meant his rates were due to rise by 25 per cent, despite his business experiencing a 40 per cent drop in turnover because of the slump in the oil price.

He added: “I’ve been asked to pay £315,000 as against £253,000. I’m just going to continue paying the old amount until there’s a settlement.”

A spokesman for Mr Mackay said: “We agree there are some firms in the north-east who face a challenge, which is exactly why we have worked with local authorities on schemes that could support those businesses.”