Standing view · business · West Lothian
deteriorating, held with strong confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-06.
The business base in West Lothian has been shrinking, and the view is held strongly. Business deaths were 135 in the quarter to December 2025 and 145 in the quarter to June 2026, both recorded as unfavourable against the usual pattern for their quarter, while 130 in the quarter to March 2026 was favourable. In 2026 there were 4,870 businesses, 3,685 of them employing 0 to 4 people, 585 employing 5 to 9 people, and business sites at 6,085 in 2025 and 6,240 in 2026. Closures rising in the most recent quarter.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about West Lothian. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Business deaths | 2025-12 | deteriorating |
| Business deaths | 2026-03 | improving |
| Business deaths | 2026-06 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Business sites | 2025 | rising |
| Businesses | 2026 | rising |
| Businesses employing 0 to 4 people | 2026 | rising |
| Businesses employing 5 to 9 people | 2026 | rising |
| Business sites | 2026 | rising |