We’re on the road to recovery. So why are we stuck with the SNP’s out-of-date map?

WE all know how important the election on May 6 is – Scotland’s future is at stake.

The threat of another divisive referendum has never been more real and it is more essential than ever that pro-UK voters unite to stop an SNP majority.

But I do not need to tell you that this year is not normal and, while May 6 is a vital date for Scotland, it is just one of a number of pivotal dates in the near future.

After such a challenging year, where we have been stuck inside and missed out on so much, the dates that are most fixed in people’s minds are the moments when restrictions will ease.

The dates that many of us are rightly focusing on are those that spell a return to our old lives – the dates when we will get back to some form of normality.

When will we get our vaccinations? When will the restrictions ease? When will businesses reopen?

After a year of limitations, we are all eager to get back to normal, to reconnect with friends and family and get back to doing the activities we enjoy.

In February, when the SNP first set out its plan to lift restrictions, we were rightly scathing in our criticism.

It gave us barely half a plan. The short-term approach it suggested prevented businesses and families from planning ahead.

It totally failed to offer any hope of an end to the pandemic.

Then in March, Nicola Sturgeon unveiled a route map without any clear indication of when we would be back to life as usual.

By its end, we will still face caps on the number of people we can meet outside or invite into our homes. Social distancing will still apply. Many businesses will still be shut.

It is not a plan to move past the pandemic, it is a route map back to the restrictions of last summer.

Most importantly, this route map was supposed to vary based on evidence and data.

That has not happened. The SNP’s plan has remained largely unchanged since it was first announced.

The route map is the same – but the evidence and data it is based upon have taken positive turns.

Public health data is much more encouraging. We now have the lowest percentage of daily positive tests for coronavirus since September.

The success of the UK vaccine scheme is having a real impact. More than 2.5million Scots have received their first dose and more than 400,000 have now had their second.

Expected surges in case numbers due to some pupils returning to schools have not materialised.

All the signs show we have kept the virus suppressed. Yet, despite all the positives, the SNP still has us on the same timetable.

It is a slower timetable than anywhere else in the UK.

Prioritise

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

We called for her to prioritise children’s education and bring schools back faster.

She could have brought a year of disrupted schooling to an end in March. Instead, many pupils are still waiting to return to proper face to face teaching.

Nobody is suggesting we can abandon caution.

We have got to play this safe and keep following public health advice.

But we can still be cautious and have a faster route back to normality.

There is a fine balance between the risks from coronavirus and the damage of lockdown and restrictions.

We cannot overlook the impact that these have had on our mental and physical health, or what they have done to our family finances. 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 we must refresh the restrictions route map to take account of the better than expected data and get our country on a faster road to recovery.

For a start, we should look at expanding the range of restrictions that are due to be lifted at the end of this month.

We are calling for all restrictions due to be lifted on May 17 to be lifted on April 26 instead, except for indoor gatherings.

That would mean getting college and university students back earlier, so their studies are not disrupted any further.

It would mean outdoor and indoor events with limited attendance, so we could get small crowds back to football matches, cinemas and bingo halls a bit faster.

It would mean backing our hospitality industry and avoiding the situation where pubs can reopen but cannot serve alcohol indoors for three weeks.

We will also be pushing for more hope for the future.

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 force them to wait any longer than is necessary. The SNP Government should now deliver the plan we should have got in the first place, weeks ago.

It is vital that we open up as soon as it is safe to do so for a multitude of reasons.

Every day that people are kept apart, their mental health suffers. Every day we do not deliver a route map to lifting restrictions, uncertainty grows.

Every day we delay reopening businesses, more jobs are put at risk.

We have got to see a faster route back to normality and a better future – and it has got to happen soon.

A more optimistic timetable cannot wait for the end of the election campaign.

What is the point of continuing to deliver a weekly briefing, as the SNP leader will do today, if it is not used to announce amendments to the current timetable in light of changing conditions?

Nicola Sturgeon cannot keep Scotland locked down because it is convenient for her electoral strategy.

Exploit

And it is now abundantly clear that the SNP is trying to exploit the pandemic to campaign for another independence referendum.

But this is too important for the election campaign to be a factor.

The public cannot wait until the start of May before the Government takes a decision to accelerate the easing of restrictions and unveils a full plan to get Scotland out of lockdown.

This week, it is highly likely that Scotland will cross the 10,000 mark for coronavirus deaths.

That is a terrible tragedy and should be a moment of national reflection.

Yet it is also a reminder of how far we have come from the worst of the pandemic.

The vaccination programme has been an incredible success, coronavirus case numbers are steadily decreasing and hospitalisations are down.

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.

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