Scotland facing ‘colossal’ economic crisis over Covid-19

SCOTLAND f aces a “colossal” economic crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

During First Minister’s Questions, she was asked about a series of companies which have recently announced redundancies.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie questioned whether the Scottish Government is prepared to cope with a “tidal wave” of job losses.

Rolls-Royce has put 700 jobs under threat in Renfrewshire, with another 200 at risk in the Crieff Hydro hotel group and 1,000 at Ovo Energy.

The first minister responded: “The economic emergency we face is colossal, just like the health emergency we’ve been dealing with is colossal.

“We’ve been very clear all along that the health emergency very quickly led to an economic one and we have been planning for that almost from the start of this.”

She said a Cabinet sub-committee has been discussing the economy since the start of the crisis and an advisory group i s due to publish its report in the coming weeks.

Ms Sturgeon said she has been in touch with the chief executive of Rolls-Royce and will also speak to the Scottish Tourism Alliance about the job losses.

Mr Rennie called for a series of measures, including a universal basic income and government bailouts of businesses.

The first minister said: “This Parliament does not have the powers to introduce a universal basic income on its own, unfortunately because so much of welfare and tax responsibilities are still reserved to Westminster.”