Hospitality industry deserves support

Business need to see a clearer path out of lockdown but we must not throw caution to the wind

The return of thousands of children to school today has brought a glimmer of hope to households up and down the country.

The step-by-step return has also brought an understandable frustration with many pupils being offered as little as half a day back in the classroom ahead of the Easter break.

What it has delivered is a confidence that school life will return to some kind of normality sooner rather than later and provided the basis of a timetable that allows parents – and employers – to start planning for the weeks ahead.

Scotland’s hospitality sector is looking for a similar time line that will give employers the confidence not only to start planning for a return to more regular opening but for many some reassurance that their business will survive.

The Scottish Government should work with them to give them as much clarity as possible. It must do all that it can to help the thousands of hospitality venues that have been particularly hard hit by the impact of lockdown be ready to open as soon as it is safe for them to do so.

That would reasonably include indicative dates of when certain restrictions might be lifted.

The fact that Covid infection rates in Scotland have been lower than in other parts of the UK has given rise to considerable hope that signifcant easing in the ongoing lockdown restrictions is likely soon.

Of course an unexpected surge in infections would change that.

We cannot take anything for granted now any more than we could at any stage in the pandemic.

We must not forget that there are good grounds for believing that the safety first approach adopted by Nicola Sturgeon is paying dividends.

The earlier winter lockdown north of the Border and the prioritising of vaccinations in care homes do appear to have played their part in keeping deaths and infections lower than in England.

The data shows the higher Covid death rate in Scotland compared to England seen in much of October and November peaked at a lower level. Since December, excess deaths have been lower in Scotland.

Business deserves a transparent approach, but we should all demand a careful one.