Sturgeon urges voters to back her as First Minister as restrictions eased

Nicola Sturgeon has repeated her assertion that Scotland needs "serious leadership" as restrictions are set to be eased.

Following the election, the first major decision of the new Scottish Government would be to approve changes to coronavirus rules due to come into force on May 17 - a choice which has usually been announced the Tuesday before the changes are made.

The changes, which will see Scotland move to Level 2, include allowing four people from two households to meet indoors for the first time since last year, along with increasing the number of people who can meet outdoors.

With just three days left before Scotland goes to the polls and the SNP saying the election was on a "knife edge", the First Minister sought to put her experience in office since 2014 and her handling of the coronavirus pandemic front and centre.

"The first job of a newly elected government will be to decide on whether we are ready to lift restrictions even further on the 17th May," she said.

"That's why I believe Scotland needs serious leadership for serious times."

Cases in Scotland have reduced rapidly since the beginning of the year, along with deaths, hospital admissions and intensive care treatment as the vaccination programme has inoculated more than 60 per cent of the population, leading Ms Sturgeon to say she is "confident that the country is on the right track, and we will be able to take further steps to free up society and allow our economy to begin to recover".

She added: "We have come together over the last year to get through the pandemic together, with people going to extraordinary lengths, whether working in our NHS, frontline services, working and schooling from home or making huge personal sacrifices.

"If we apply the same approach to recovery, and all come together to build a better, fairer society then there is nothing that Scotland cannot achieve."

Every poll has the SNP returning as the largest party in Holyrood after Thursday, but the parliamentary arithmetic may still have it running a minority administration, as was the case in the last term.

But Ms Sturgeon has been pushing for a majority in this election, which would not only strengthen her government's hand on domestic issues at Holyrood, but also bolster the case for another independence referendum, which she and other SNP politicians have repeatedly asserted would only take place after the pandemic has passed.

The First Minister continued: "I am ready to get down to work, backed by a strong SNP government, to do what I can to get Scotland through the pandemic and into recovery.

"By voting SNP in the constituency vote on Thursday and SNP on the regional vote on Thursday we can protect the progress we have made and ensure a strong, experienced government to keep Scotland on the right track."

However, the party’s deputy leader Keith Brown was accused of being “wildly out of touch” after he said he wants the pandemic to end so that campaigning for independence can restart.

Speaking on the Herald’s Brian Taylor podcast, Mr Brown said he wishes for the current crisis to be over partly for “a selfish reason” because it would enable independence campaigners to get out and about again.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said Brown must apologise for his “shameful” remarks, with more than 10,000 families in Scotland having lost a loved one due to Covid-19.

Mr Ross said the comments show the SNP will always put independenceastheirnumber one priority. With less than 72 hours until polls open, he has urged pro-uk voters to unite around the Scottish Conservatives on their peach ballot paper to halt the SNP’S plans for another reckless independence referendum.

Mr Ross said: “These are shameful comments from the SNP’S deputy leader. He must apologise immediately for such disrespectful remarks.

“Over 10,000 families in Scotland are grieving the loss of loved ones due to Covid, yet Keith Brown’s priority is getting out to campaign for independence.

“The SNP are wildly out of touch with people’s priorities. For Keith Brown and his nationalist colleagues, it couldn’t be clearer that independence comes first over Scotland’s recovery from coronavirus.

“All our focus should be on rebuilding our communities from the devastating effects of the pandemic.

“On Thursday, if pro-uk voters unite around the Scottish Conservatives on their peach party list vote, even just this once, they can stop an SNP majority, stop their push for indyref2 and have a Parliament 100 per cent focused on rebuilding Scotland.”

The SNP and the Scottish Greens have argued that the powers independence would bring over areas such as the economy and employment could be crucial in the recovery.

Ms Sturgeon has refused to say exactly when a second vote on independence could be held - saying only it should take place after the immediate health crisis is over and not before the end of 2023.

But pro-uk parties Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have accused Ms Sturgeon of planning another independence vote in the midst of the pandemic.