Commenting on the Institute of Chartered Accountants latest survey, Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Jeremy Purvis MSP said:

“This is the first report showing that employment rates in our businesses have stopped growing. While I hope very much this is not the case, inevitably it gives concern that there are potentially looming job losses.

“This means that together with almost a halving of turnover growth for Scottish businesses, the Government must now respond to the threat of job numbers falling for the first time since devolution.”