Eagle-eyed might have detected a little unease
IT was, as circumstances dictated, a l argely sombre affair. Having on Saturday announced a new raft of restrictions, the First Minister yesterday addressed MSPs on the latest twist in this damnable crisis.
After Nicola Sturgeon made her regret- soaked statement, Conservative Holyrood leader Ruth Davidson was first to question her. Miss Davidson – normally a master of the political attack – was focused and thoughtful.
This week’s news, she said, was undeniably a setback but most people understood the need for action. But what they also needed was clarity so, although the First Minister had said schools would return by January 18, was this a guarantee or should parents prepare for a longer period of socalled ‘blended learning’?
No such guarantee that pupils would be back in front of teacher was forthcoming.
Keeping schools open, said the First Minister, remains a priority and if it was at all possible the Scottish Government would get schools open on January 18. If doing that meant the rest of us had to live under more severe restrictions, then ‘so be it’.
After Miss Davidson had elicited this rather depressing information, it was Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard’s turn to question the FM.
There isn’t a room in existence that Mr Leonard can read. If there’s a tone to be struck, you can be sure he’ll be wildly off-key.
And so it was, yesterday. Since the new strain of Covid-19 was 70 per cent more virulent than its predecessor, would the First Minister increase tests by 70 per cent and boost the rollout of vaccinations by 70 per cent?
This line of questioning might have sounded terribly clever when Mr Leonard rehearsed it with his advisers in advance of his appearance in the Holyrood chamber, but exposed to the cold, harsh light of reality, it looked messy. To suggest that its existence should – or even could – trigger some new timetable on vaccination was deeply cynical stuff.
Mr Leonard sought to characterise the First Minister’s decision on restrictions as political and, not for the first time, he ended up sounding distinctly out of tune.
DURING yesterday’s parliamentary session, the First Minister had news to strike further misery in suburban Scotland. Under the new Level 4 restrictions, homeware stores and garden centres would not be considered essential and would have to close.
This throws up the prospect of a peculiarly middle- class black market, with people passing round i nformation about a bloke in Bearsden who can get you a Le Creuset skillet if you’re willing to pay the premium.
Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame, a member of the party’s more excitable faction, raised the matter of a ban in travel across the Border. Given that the Chief Constable had ruled out roadblocks and checkpoints, was the First Minister satisfied the law could be enforced and had she been advised on policing across the English side of the Border.
The eagle- eyed might have detected a little unease in the First Minister’s face. Past protests at the Border by members of the crank-wing of the independence movement have embarrassed the SNP l eader, whose narrative remains that hers is a welcoming and open-minded party.
Enforcing travel restrictions was, said Miss Sturgeon, an operational matter for the Chief Constable. But people should adhere to the law not because they feared being stopped but because it was the right thing to do.
Christine Grahame remained silent after this reply, so it is difficult to know whether she found it reassuring. I can only say that it would not be in the slightest bit surprising if the MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale & Lauderdale spent Christmas morning patrolling the Border herself.