Furlough row could see Scotland forced into early lockdown

Scotland could be forced to follow England into lockdown th is month or risk going it alone without the UK’s full job retention scheme if national restrictions are required further down the line.

Ministers are facing a furious stand- off with Downing Street after the Treasury said it would not foot the bill for a shutdown in Scotland after December 2, despite making cash available as England enters new coronavirus measures from Thursday.

Scotland will push ahead with plans to roll out its new five-tier coronavirus alert system today but Deputy First Minister John Swinney said it would be “foolish” to rule out following England into a full national lockdown in the weeks and months ahead.

Scotland’ s finance secretary, Kate Forbes, held crunch talks with the Treasury yesterday but was told that if the country does decide to lockdown again from next month, it will need to do so without the support made available south of the border.

Ms Forbes said: “Despite discussions today, UK Treasury continue to deny our request that full furlough at 80% be made available for businesses and employees in Scotland at any point we need it, suggesting that it is only available for the duration of a lockdown in England.”

She added: “We also received no clarity on whether we will receive additional Barnett consequentials as a result of increased UK support for English local government and whether the unlimited payments for business support in England , funded by Treasury borrowing, will be made available on a similar demand-less basis to enable the Scottish Government to match that long-term commitment.”

The UK Government has confirmed the job retention scheme will be extended until December 2, the preliminary date for restrictions to be lifted in England, and will be available to workers in Scotland.

On the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme earlier in the day, Mr Swinney said a further national lockdown in Scotland could not be ruled out but he hoped existing measures would be enough to avoid such a move.

“I can’t categorically rule that out, no, and it would be foolish to do so because we do face a very serious situation,” he said.

“We took the scientific advice that was given to us in September, and we applied restrictions right away.”

Mr Swinney said efforts to “bear down on the virus” over the past two months had left Scotland in a “stronger position compared to the situation that prevails in England” and insisted the levels system was still “the correct position for us to take”.

The Perthshire North MSP, who revealed his government only found out about the furlough ex tens ion through newspaper reports, said it was a “matter of concern” that calls for such a move from devolved administrations had been “disregarded” by the UK Government until England was sent into lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now facing a battle on all fronts, with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross set to call on the UK Government to “immediately” guarantee the furlough scheme will be extended in Scotland for any second lockdown.

During a speech to the Police Exchange today, Mr Ross will tell Downing Street to “treat Scotland the same way as England”.

He will note the Scottish Government and the other devolved administrations “have been forced to look for detail on announcements from publicly available press releases”.

Mr Ross will say the furlough scheme has been a “lifeline” for hundreds of thousands of Scottish jobs and was a“real and tangible reminder of the economic security of the union”.

The current UK Government could have been deliberately designed by Nicola Sturgeon to boost public support for her ambition of Scottish independence.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is extraordinarily unpopular north of the border and the Brexit vote that ultimately catapulted him to Downing Street is very much a minority enthusiasm here.

The perception that Ms Sturgeon has handled the coronavirus pandemic better than her London counterparts is also widely thought to explain why support for independence has climbed steadily since the first lockdown in March.

Now the chaotic manner in which Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have handled the furlough scheme is driving a further wedge between the nations of the UK.

When authorities in Scotland and Wales demanded further financial support for tighter localised restrictions they were told there was no money for such measures.

But now that England is going into another lockdown, extra funds have magically been discovered.

The impression the Treasury has allowed to develop is that the furlough scheme will be tailored to the needs of England and everyone else will just have to work around it.

Even Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has acknowledged that is quite simply unacceptable.

The Conservative and Unionist Party are becoming the biggest threat to the unity of the UK.