Nicola Sturgeon should stop playing "constitutional games" while businesses and jobs are on the line, Douglas Ross has said.
The Scottish Conservatives leader accused the First Minister of failing to understand the concerns of small business owners and said they were "shut out" of lockdown planning.
Many in the hospitality sector reacted with fury after the Scottish Government gave just two days' warning that pubs and restaurants across the central belt would have to close as of 6pm last Friday.
But the SNP leader said she had to act fast to curb the rising number of Scots testing positive for Covid-19.
Tory MP Ross - who plans to swap Westminster for Holyrood at May's election - said firms should be given more time to prepare for changing lockdown restrictions.
"We need businesses to get funding support immediately when they are being asked to shut down, especially at short notice, so we should have an automatic, standard Scottish Business Restrictions Grant that kicks in straight away," he wrote in a column in the Scottish Daily Mail.
"But we also know that we need to work even harder on behalf of Scottish businesses because they have been shut out by the SNP.
"The First Minister has never really grasped how difficult it is to run a small business or the vital role they play in our economy and society.
"Nicola Sturgeon did not mention small business once in her Programme for Government speech."
He continued: "We learned yesterday that tens of thousands of jobs are at immediate risk, only weeks after the Scottish Government's own chief economist warned that 100,000 Scottish jobs may go by Christmas.
"There is no time to wait. No time to play constitutional games. Businesses and jobs are on the line.
"So let's see the SNP give out every penny of that £700million from the UK Government to businesses. And let's see it now."
The Record has asked the SNP and Scottish Government for comment.
