Unlock the economy before it’s too late

THE scale of the looming economic catastrophe caused by the coronavirus crisis is mind-boggling.

GDP has fallen sharply and unemployment could rise to almost 10 per cent.

By Christmas, more than 220,000 people could be on the dole, according to a bleak official forecast.

And in five years’ time, we will still be living with the appalling legacy of this devastating disease in the form of economic ‘scarring’.

The repercussions will be far-reaching, with public services likely to bear the brunt of massive cuts, while taxes could soar.

Yet this could be an opportunity for dynamic reform of a kind eschewed by a government wedded to a punitive high-tax agenda.

Businesses desperately need support to avoid becoming casualties of this downturn.

But recovery is impossible while lockdown continues in its current state.

The restrictions are simply too draconian to allow the economy to take the first faltering steps towards normality.

City centres are dying as staff work from home, contributing to turbo-charged urban decline. Getting them back to Covid-secure workplaces would help to rescue ghost-town Scotland from the edge of oblivion.

The ‘rule of six’ is another imposition rooted in dubious science which is persuading people to stay away from struggling pubs and restaurants.

As Covid cases increase, the risk of a return to full lockdown grows – a move that would force many businesses to pull down the shutters permanently.

The NHS is facing a tumultuous winter, contending with flu and coronavirus, but it depends on a thriving economy to perform effectively. Until a vaccine is found, we need to find innovative ways to allow society to function again, and escape this corrosive state of suspended animation.

Ministers must put lockdown behind them, fight to protect jobs – and ensure this crippling virus does not kill off our economy.