THE Scottish government was urged today to act to save the 225,000 jobs in Scotland’s retail sector.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard expressed the party’s concerns following yet more redundancies in the sector in recent days. 

Last week high street giant Marks & Spencer announced 7,000 job losses across Britain.

Retail sales worth £2.1 billion were lost in the first five months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland.

Research shows that two fifths of non-food retail sales has been conducted online in the past five months, compared with a quarter before the pandemic.

Research by Scottish Labour shows that the sector employs 225,000 people in Scotland, including 34,000 workers in Glasgow and 27,000 in Edinburgh.

With the Tories in Westminster continuing to refuse pleas for an extension of the furlough scheme across Britain — it ends in October —  Scottish Labour now says a jobs guarantee scheme is a must north of the border. 

Mr Leonard said: “Scotland’s retail sector — particularly on our high streets — was in crisis long before the pandemic hit. But the impact of the lockdown has been massive, wiping out businesses, particularly in the non-food retail sector. 

“If the furlough scheme ends before a quality jobs guarantee scheme is in place, thousands of jobs in the sector will be at risk.”

The Scottish Labour leader also emphasised the need for the furlough scheme to be extended by Westminster. 

He said: “I am calling for the UK government to extend the furlough scheme — as has happened in Germany — and for the Scottish government to institute a quality jobs guarantee scheme without further delay."

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We understand the devastating impact this pandemic has had on employment … and we intend to work with the retail industry to develop a strategy to help address the challenges facing the sector.”