Scottish Members of the Fed Discuss Trading and Retail Crime with MSP Maurice Golden

Senior members of the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) in Scotland discussed retail crime and new year trading in a video call with Conservative MSP Maurice Golden on Thursday 12th February, following the recent launch of their manifesto for this May’s Holyrood election.

Included on the call was Scottish District President and Paisley Retailer Hussan Lal, as well as one of his predecessors in the role Ferhan Ashiq who runs businesses in Musselburgh and Prestonpans in East Lothian, along with the Fed’s Political Engagement Coordinator, Douglas Oliver.

Mr Golden – who has engaged with the Fed in the past, including visiting businesses and meeting with retailers in the past, and attending the 2025 Burns Dinner organised by the Fed in Glasgow – represents the North East Scotland region for the Conservative party and has served as an MSP since 2016.

During the call, Mr Lal and Mr Ashiq identified concerns about weak Christmas trade and the impact of rising bills including higher taxes from recent Westminster Budgets and also the direct and indirect costs of store theft as well as recent experiences of counterfeit currency, which he said remains a worry for retailers.

The Fed participants re-emphasised some of the key elements in the Fed’s manifesto for the 2026 election, including a request for real action to tackle retail crime – in particular, targeted retail security grants, so small shops can afford high quality security tools including advanced CCTV – and action to control costs, especially limits to business rate bills and the swift and efficient roll out of the new Deposit Return Scheme for recycling.

Maurice Golden said: “It was very good to catch-up with the Fed – who I have worked closely with for a number of years in my time in the Holyrood and I thanked them for sharing their experiences as well as their manifesto ideas which I will feed in with Scottish Conservative colleagues. I hope to meet with the Fed very soon.”

Hussan Lal said: “We really appreciated Mr. Golden’s time and continued interest in the work of independent retailers across Scotland. We focused especially on the Fed’s call for dedicated retail security grants to help small independent shops enhance their security with things like better CCTV and body cameras and we look forward to working with him and his Scottish Parliament colleagues in the future.”

For further information, please contact: douglas.oliver@nfrn.org.uk or ben.storey@nfrn.org.uk