18 March 2016

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressed an audience of around 700 small business owners from the across the UK, telling them that “that Scotland will be the best place to do business anywhere in the UK”.

Welcome to #FSBConf @ScotGovFM ! pic.twitter.com/dJd3xLvaMF

— Gordon Henderson FSB (@fsb_eos) March 18, 2016

.@ScotGovFM commends FSB Scotland manifesto and calls SMEs the lifeblood and backbone of the economy #FSBConf pic.twitter.com/5Cky8eGjG6

— FSB (@fsb_policy) March 18, 2016

The First Minister used her speech to talk about how initiatives such as the Scottish Government’s Small Business Bonus Scheme, which has saved businesses around £1 billion since 2008.

Great talk from @ScotGovFM at #FSBConf good to hear about investment in business for startups and growth of SME's pic.twitter.com/tIUgyHifwv

— James Tristan Hart (@jameshart1981) March 18, 2016

The First Minister said:

“When this government came into office, we created the small business bonus. As a result almost 100,000 small business premises in Scotland now pay zero or reduced rates. In total, since 2008, the small business bonus scheme has saved businesses more than one billion pounds.”

Hosted by Kirsty Wark, the First Minister then took part in a Q&A with questions from business owners based in the Isle of Wight, Lancashire and even Malta! They discussed how good business practice can be shared right across the UK.

.@ScotGovFM takes questions from the floor at #FSBConf – some tough Qs from #smallbiz https://t.co/G9jgGtfkc1 pic.twitter.com/BHukkNTn68

— FSB (@fsb_policy) March 18, 2016

You can read the First Minister’s speech on the Scottish Government website.