FM’s bank guru reckons 1m rule is on the cards
NICOLA Sturgeon’s economics guru has predicted she will scrap the two-metre rule “soon-ish”.
Benny Higgins said the physical distancing restriction made it “well nigh impossible” for tourism businesses to survive.
It comes as pressure mounts on the First Minister to make a decision on the social distance rule as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to announce plans today which will reduce it to one metre in England.
Higgins, whose career started at Standard Life, has held a range of senior posts in the banking world.
He was chief executive of retail banking at RBS and also CEO of Tesco Bank.
He is currently executive chairman of Buccleuch Group and was asked by the Scottish Government to chair the Advisory group on Economic Recovery.
In an interview with the Daily Record, Higgins addressed the distance measures which is the key issue preoccupying the business community.
Asked how much of an impediment it is to economic recovery, he said: “It is an issue, OK.”
Higgins said the question of a one or two-metre rule should not be seen as “binary”, but said: “The real answer here is to get this ‘R’ number down low enough that you can actually get out of any social distancing.
“On the way to that, getting from two to one is probably important. I suspect, without any inner circle knowledge, that Boris will do it pretty soon and we will do it soon-ish, but not quite at the same time. It is important.”
He said: “It is going to be hard for the tourism and hospitality sectors to survive on a one-metre rule . At two metres, it is well nigh impossible for an awful lot of them.”
Johnson had a crunch meeting with the Government’s top scientific advisors last night on changing the two-metre rule.
Measures being announced to the Commons today are also expected to reveal when restaurants and pubs can reopen in England.
But the First Minister has said her review into the issue will not be “far behind” but has insisted Scotland will go its “own way” on the issue.
Sturgeon said: “Risk increases the shorter the distance you have.”