Call for more clarity on restrictions
South Lanarkshire’s Liberal Democrats are demanding more clarity from the SNP Government following confusion over recent statements on new restrictions on cafes, pubs and restaurants, and on travel.
Rutherglen South councillor Robert Brown, the Lib Dems group leader, said most people had been prepared to give the government some leeway over the complex problems of dealing with the pandemic.
But he said unprecedented restrictions would not work unless the public understands and broadly supports the reasons for decisions.
“The Scottish Government have made a number of grand announcements which have left local councils, local businesses and the public picking up the pieces – ranging from the U-turn over the arrangements for schools in August, the provision of personal protective equipment to key front line workers, and the SQA fiasco to the recent avoidable confusion over a really vital issue of what was a café and what was a restaurant, which affected their right to stay open or otherwise.
“Now, we have an announcement on travel bans which is utterly incomprehensible and shot through with anomalies.
“People in Lanarkshire aren’t supposed to go out of Lanarkshire because of the growing Covid levels here. So, you can go from Rutherglen to Strathaven Park, Strathclyde Park or Lanark Loch but you shouldn’t go down the road to King’s Park or Linn Park or even to the Cathkin Braes because they are in Glasgow – which also has a high rate of infection, too.
“Then you shouldn’t travel – but it’s OK to go to Blackpool if you have already booked, providing you don’t go anywhere when you get there.
“Finally, we are to have the three-tier system just introduced in England – but not for a couple of weeks because Nicola Sturgeon wants to be seen to do it differently in Scotland.
“I don’t think the public will find it easy to understand all this – and, if they don’t follow the logic of it or if it gets too complicated, it is more difficult to get people to follow the rules.
“Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has for weeks rightly been asking the First Minister to allow parliament to examine the scientific advice and the reasoning behind these arrangements – and help avoid a damaging loss of public confidence in the system.”