With just 10 days until we go to the polls, we’re now firmly at the business end of this election campaign.

I’m not saying there won’t be any final twists or turns or surprises, but we do now know where the main parties stand – or at least how much they’re willing to commit to – on the big business issues.

So, what do the various manifestos tell us?

Well, everyone recognises that the economy is a central issue, if not the central issue (rhetorically at least). There is pretty much universal recognition of the huge cost pressures on business, the need for better regulation and the skills shortages which hold business back.

SNP and labour manifestos fall short on apprenticeship needs

There also seems to be a general dissatisfaction with how the enterprise agencies and wider network is performing, if no real consensus on what to do about it. There is also, as you would expect, a lot of talk focusing on high-growth scaleups, priority sectors, clusters and the like (which, to be honest, I thought current enterprise policy already does, but anyway).

But, when you get into the weeds of it, most of the parties seem to have their eye on some sort of agency re-organisation, merger, scrapping, or creation.

Neither a five-minute, nor, I predict, uncontroversial job – and its scale will depend on exactly who triumphs next week and what sort of government they are able to form. Stay tuned.

On the biggest business issue of the election – the vexed question of non-domestic rates –everyone is clear something should be done, but, again, there’s no real concrete agreement on what that something should be.

Scottish rates hike sparks 'tumbleweed' warning in debate

Ideas include protecting the Small Business Bonus and ensuring “online giants” pay their fair share (SNP); guaranteeing that “all businesses with a current rateable value of less than £20,000” would automatically pay nothing (Conservatives); not “punishing” businesses who invest in improving their property (Lib Dems); replacing rates with a “local business levy” to better support retail, hospitality and town centres (Labour); using rates “to add surcharges to businesses which harm the environment and communities” (Greens); and “reverse” the latest business rates revaluation (Reform).

Anyone who has ever plunged into this issue and lived to tell the tale knows that business rates reform is complicated, difficult and, to be frank, politically risky. Perhaps, then, this is one of the areas where we need some sort of cross-party work to find common ground.

As a quick first step, though, the new government could restore the thresholds for small business rates relief, bringing the 16,000 firms taken out of the scheme by the latest revaluation back into the fold. It also makes sense, as I believe most parties would agree, to make the system more transparent and accountable by appointing a single national assessor, rather than muddling along with 14 separate local ones.

No time to waste as Scots politicians vow to transform tax

Elsewhere, tackling skills shortages is a similarly long-standing problem.  Whatever the new government decides to do here, it needs to recognise up front that more than 90% of employers delivering apprenticeships in Scotland are small or medium-sized businesses, and they tell us that cost is the biggest barrier facing them.

Research shows employers invest around £10 for every £1 of public apprenticeship funding, creating real financial risk – particularly for smaller firms.  Moves to restore “apprenticeship accelerator grants”, for example, in line with our FSB election manifesto, or more ring-fenced funding would therefore be wise.

Across the manifestos, there are commitments to rationalise the number of agencies, forums and working groups – alongside commitments to set up new ones. I’ve not quite worked out the net balance for each, but I’m sure everyone will be wary of the risk, when it comes to tackling bureaucracy, of stripping away layers of red tape here only to create others over there.

The high price of Scotland's apprenticeship shortfall

There are many other areas where the parties are clear about what they want to happen, but maybe not as clear on how they’ll do it. That’s not a criticism – these are election manifestos, not detailed programmes for government.

But, when all the crosses are in the boxes, the ballots are counted, the parliamentary arithmetic is totted up and the new government is sworn in, the “how” questions will need to be the priority.

And that, I would say to all our Holyrood hopefuls, is where the country’s practical, expert small business voice must be to the fore. After all, their success is key to whatever you want to do over the next five years – regardless of the colour of your rosette.

Colin Borland is Scotland director for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

© Herald Scotland