NOW LET US GET BACK TO NORMAL!

With 2.5m Scots already vaccinated, Tories call on Sturgeon to speed up lockdown exit

SCOTLAND’S exit from lockdown must be speeded up to allow a ‘faster route back to normality’, say the Tories.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas ross today sets out how Nicola Sturgeon must accelerate the relaxation of restrictions due to better-than-expected case numbers and the successful rollout of the coronavirus vaccine across the uk. under his plan, restrictions due to be lifted for hospitality, leisure and outdoor sport on May 17 would be brought forward by three weeks.

Highlighting that more than 2.5million Scots have received the first dose of the vaccine and 450,000 have had the second dose, he said: ‘Despite all the positives, the SNP still have us on the same timetable, a slower timetable than anywhere

else in the UK. Faced with a more optimistic scenario than even the experts predicted, Nicola Sturgeon has done nothing. She’s kept Scotland stuck with the same old plan.’

Mr Ross’s plan would mean pubs, restaurants and cafes would be able to fully reopen indoors until 10.30pm, with alcohol sales, from April 26.

Cinemas, amusement arcades and bingo halls would also be able to resume, while outdoor contact sport could restart and small-scale outdoor and indoor events would be able to take place.

The fast-tracked plan would also see universities and colleges welcome back students for blended learning, and the resumption of non-professional performance arts outdoors.

It came after Boris Johnson yesterday confirmed he would be ‘going to the pub myself’ when beer gardens open in England on April 12.

His comments came as the UK Government published the latest findings from its reviews of ‘vaccine passports’ and international travel.

The review suggested a certification scheme could have an ‘important role to play both domestically and internationally, as a temporary measure’, with travel green lists not requiring quarantine on return to the UK.

The Prime Minister said he was ‘hopeful’ of a return to some international flights by May 17.

However, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman refused to give any commitment on foreign travel from Scotland next month.

It follows hairdressers, homeware stores and click-and-collect retail being able to finally open up in Scotland for the first time this year yesterday.

Writing in today’s Mail, Mr Ross condemns the SNP Government for failing to speed up the route map despite admitting case numbers have been steadily better than expected.

Although he does not name a date for all the main restrictions being eased, unlike Mr Johnson who has said this could happen as early as June 21, Mr Ross said: ‘We’ve got to see a faster route back to normality and a better future – and it’s got to happen soon.’

Miss Sturgeon will hold the latest coronavirus review when her Cabinet meets today, and she is due to give a televised update at lunchtime.

She is expected to confirm whether or not the full-time return of all pupils to school can go ahead as planned after the Easter holidays.

But Miss Freeman yesterday said the route out of lockdown would not be accelerated.

Mr Ross said that the current proposals for easing measures published by the SNP Government were not a plan to move past the pandemic but ‘a route map back to the restrictions of last summer’.

He said the plan has been ‘largely unchanged’ since it was announced, even though the health evidence and data ‘has taken positive turns’.

He added: ‘If we can safely reopen our society and economy at a quicker pace, then we should. We should not keep Scotland under restrictions any longer than we need to.

‘That is why the Scottish Conservatives believe that we need to refresh the restrictions route map, to take account of the better-than-expected data and get our country on a faster road to recovery.’

All restrictions due to be lifted on May 17 should be brought forward to April 26 with the exception of indoor gatherings, he said.

‘We will also be pushing for more hope for the future,’ Mr Ross said.

‘The Scottish Government should be seriously considering bringing forward firmer dates for lifting restrictions beyond mid-May.

‘Let’s stop leaving the public in the dark. People are waiting to get on with their lives. Let’s not have them wait any longer than necessary.

‘The SNP Government should deliver a full plan to get back to normality.’

He added: ‘We can now afford to be more optimistic about our route map out of restrictions. We can kick-start the mammoth task of undoing the damage that coronavirus has done to people’s lives and livelihoods sooner. We can start rebuilding Scotland now.

‘Let’s get on that road to recovery and give Scotland hope that better days are coming soon.’

The latest figures showed just 248

‘Faster route back to normality’

‘Stop leaving public in the dark’

new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours to yesterday morning, the lowest on a single day since September, while only 2.5 per cent of new tests were positive, which is half the rate which the World Health Organisation uses as an indicator for the pandemic being under control. There were no new deaths.

Some 2,565,280 Scots have received the first dose of the vaccine, and 456,374 have had the second dose.

Miss Freeman told BBC Good Morning Scotland the ‘numbers are looking better and staying in a steady state of looking better’.

But she said there needs to still be ‘caution’ about the route out of lockdown, adding: ‘We will do what we do today [on easing restrictions] and then in three weeks’ time I hope we will be able to open up a bit more.’

Pressed on whether this means there will not be a faster route out of despite falling case numbers, hospital numbers and deaths, she said: ‘No, I don’t think so, I don’t think that the numbers suggest that.

‘And you’ve got to remember every time you ease the current restrictions you give the virus more opportunity to not only transmit but also to mutate and give us new variants that we need to worry about. And of course we are dealing now with a virus that has mutated and is very different from the one we were dealing with a year ago.

‘So you’ve got to recognise that, as you ease restrictions, you give the opportunity for more cases, so we need those three weeks, which is why it is a three-week window to see what happens to your case numbers – can they continue to come steadily down and keep that trajectory going, or have you created a spike that you need to then deal with?’