First steps along road to freedom

• ‘Light at end of tunnel’ as retail and hospitality given dates to reopen • First Minister hopeful we will be able to hug loved ones by the summer

Shops, bars and restaurants are to reopen across Scotland and the “stay at home” rule will come to an end after Nicola Sturgeon unveiled key dates in the country’s journey out of lockdown.

The first minister insisted “brighter days are ahead of us” as she outlined indicative dates for easing the toughest coronavirus restrictions but warned these are conditional on continued progress in driving down infections.

The process will begin with a further relaxation of the measures now in place before moving back to the levels system used earlier in the pandemic – and continued success of the vaccine programme could see restrictions rolled back more quickly.

At yesterday’s Covid-19 update in Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said she hoped to move Scotland towards “as much normality as possible” by the summer and predicted the country could enter the lowest level of restrictions by the end of June.

The first minister said Scotland is on track to hit the target of offering a first dose of vaccine to all priority groups by midApril, and stressed this would “give us confidence to ease restrictions much more significantly from April 26”.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that from April 2 the government expects to lift the current “stay at home” rule and replace it with a “stay local” message that will encourage people not to travel outside their local authority area for nonessential reasons.

Three days later, on April 5, hairdressers will reopen, students should be able to return to on-campus learning and there will be a phased reopening of nonessential retail and clickand-collect services, including garden centres.

Scotland will reach a major milestone on the route back to near normality on April 26 if all nine priority groups, including all over-50s and vulnerable groups, have been offered their first dose of the vaccine by this date.

Under the plans, all parts of the country living in Level 4 restrictions will move down to a modified Level 3, and the islands potentially to Level 2.

Travel restrictions on journeys within mainland Scotland are expected to be “lifted entirely” but Ms Sturgeon warned there may be a need to further protect island communities at this stage.

The SNP leader said journeys between Scotland and other parts of the UK will be lifted “if not on April 26 then as soon as possible thereafter; however, we need to keep this under review”.

International travel is expected to be banned until at least mid-May.

Pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants will be able to serve people outdoors – in groups of up to six from three households – until 10pm, and alcohol will be permitted with no need to for food to be served.

There will also be a partial resumption of indoor hospitality.

All remaining retail premises, tourist accommodation and attractions, and indoor gyms will also be allowed to reopen, and attendances at weddings, funerals and receptions will rise to 50 people.

Six people from up to three households will be able to meet outdoors but Ms Sturgeon said a decision has not yet been taken on whether people will be allowed to meet indoors, with the situation being kept “under ongoing review”.

She told MSPs that four people from two households should be allowed to meet indoors from May 17 at the latest, as all Level 3 areas move down to Level 2.

On the same date, the government hopes cinemas, arcades and bingo halls will reopen, along with adult outdoor contact sports and indoor group exercises.

Ms Sturgeon said that to come up with precise dates for other changes – like “normal family gatherings where we can hug our loved ones, sporting events, gigs and nightclubs” – would involve “plucking it out of thin air”.

“The steps I have outlined today give a significant degree of clarity for the period between now and the middle of May,” she said.

“The unpredictable nature of this virus means – and I hope that people understand this – that it is difficult to give quite as much clarity beyond that point.

“However, our hope and ambition is that from the early part of June all of Scotland will move to Level 1, which will allow for a further easing of restrictions.

“And then by the end of June we hope that all of Scotland will move to at least Level 0.

“Now Level 1, and even more so Level 0, will be a massive improvement on where we are right now.

“But those levels still involve some restrictions.

“And so we hope that we will be able to get beyond even that.

“We will be assessing the situation, as people would expect, on an ongoing basis with a view to restoring as much normality as possible.”

Business leaders welcomed the first minister’s announcement but warned that the survival of many local firms is still in doubt.

Andrew McRae, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said that while the country appears to be winning the race against the virus, “we still face a countdown to save our local businesses before their reserves of cash and resolve are exhausted”.

“Half of all Scottish independent business owners say they’re worried about their survival, and official figures show that local Scottish enterprises are laden with billions of pound of debt,” Mr McRae said.

However, David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the government deserves credit “for listening to the representations from retail”.

“This announcement provides much-needed certainty to the industry, and it’s welcome to see

“We will be assessing the situation, as people would expect, on an ongoing basis with a view to restoring as much normality as possible