TIMES columnist Murdo Fraser MSP has 'slammed' the Scottish Government for “stalling” on the pay-out of emergency grants to businesses during Covid-19.

The Scottish Conservative politician, who represents the Mid Scotland and Fife region, was reacting to figures released on Thursday which show that 15,000 businesses were still waiting for the funding, with a total of 844 of these in Fife.

Statistics released on Thursday revealed 15,217 were still waiting for the much-needed support.

Last week, the Scottish Conservatives highlighted how 16,000 businesses still hadn’t received the coronavirus cash. And the week before that, the figure stood at nearly 17,000.

Commenting, Mr Fraser, said: “I am alarmed to find out that 844 businesses in Fife who had applied for emergency grants during Covid-19 have still not been received the funding.

"These figures show progress on getting emergency cash to these businesses has stalled.

“The Scottish Government has been repeatedly criticised for its failure to support the economy as the pandemic has spread across the country. "Scotland-only loopholes have stopped many businesses from accessing money, while thousands of firms with more than one premises were initially told they’d get significantly less help than their counterparts south of the border.”

He continued: “We have now been in this lockdown situation for over two months and hundreds of local businesses and jobs are at risk if this process is not urgently speeded up. It is high time the Scottish Government addressed this worrying situation."

The Scottish Government website states: "Not reflected in the published information are cases where Local Authorities have processed an application which has not resulted in a grant awarded.

"This could be, for example, because an ineligible applicant applied and were rejected or because the local authority has asked the applicant for additional information and are awaiting a response".