We must work harder to help Scots economy recover after coronavirus, not less

So, Nicola Sturgeon’s latest idea is a four-day week in Scotland. Meanwhile, in China, they know the way to get back to normality, make up lost time and satisfy demand is to work extra hard for a while. And when the customer phones a Scottish company on a Friday they will likely get an answerphone message saying, “Please phone back on Monday, when someone will be able to take your order” but when they phone a company in China they will get a person answering saying, “We can take your order today and deliver to you by tomorrow”. With the SNP in charge, our Scottish businesses have one arm tied behind their backs.

RODDY MACLEOD Windsor Place, Edinburgh

“We’ve got to also take care not to simply slip back into old and bad ways of doing things,” Ms

Sturgeon told MSPS, “There are opportunities for change here.” A four-day working week was Labour policy at the last election. Now the SNP is pushing it as a response to coronavirus. Note that Nicola Sturgeon has been explicit that she intends to use the crisis to make reforms and that her goal is not just to get back to normal, but to make permanent changes to society.

At least she is honest about it.

So, the SNP proposes a fourday working week and parttime school attendance. Let’s imagine how that will play out for parents of children. A lot more childcare will be needed. Let’s say dad wants to work full time and mum three days – eight days total. Not possible. Dad can only work for four days, so mum will have to work four days as well. Hey presto! ‘Equality’ achieved. Family squeezed into the mould of SNP feminist theory. Women liberated from and men forced into domestic duties. OK, it might wreck the economy by imposing inefficiencies on businesses, but so what – it’s in a pretty bad way already. Is that what they’re thinking?

Always remember, with the SNP, ideology comes first, families’ preferences come second. And the opposition parties? They all seem to agree with the SNP’S philosophy.

And how does a four-day week help suppress coronavirus? Surely it will result in a business previously needing four staff in the office suddenly needing five – all interacting with each other on different days. But, as the First Minister states, this is about more than tackling coronavirus.

RICHARD LUCAS Leader, Scottish Family Party

Bath Street, Glasgow