SCOTS LEFT BEHIND BY TWO-SPEED EXIT FROM LOCKDOWN
Warning as Boris sets out recovery road map
SCOTS could face stricter Covid curbs than other parts of the UK.
It emerged yesterday that SNP ministers are refusing to follow the Prime Minister’s plan for lifting restrictions.
Boris Johnson will today unveil his road map out of lockdown, which will set out the path to greater freedoms for families and businesses south of the Border.
But Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday said the Scottish Government would choose a different approach and instead try to suppress the virus ‘to the lowest level possible’.
The different strategies mean some lockdown restrictions are likely to be lifted sooner in other parts of the UK than in Scotland.
Mr Swinney also refused to rule
out possible Border controls between Scotland and England, although he said he would rather avoid this.
A Scottish Government adviser also urged ministers to take a cautious approach to keep the virus under control.
Mr Swinney said there is some cooperation between the UK nations on exiting lockdown but ‘we have all got our own decisions to take on our own context’.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, he said: ‘When it comes to relaxing lockdown, we have got to take our own decisions based on the science and the evidence, and our own judgment about what are the right steps to take for our own community.
‘We want to get back to normal life as soon as possible but we want to make sure we have suppressed the virus to the lowest level possible – and to keep it there.’
Pressed on the differences between the ‘zero Covid’ strategy in Scotland and the ‘managed Covid’ strategy south of the Border, where ministers accept there will be some cases as they open up the economy, he said: ‘I think the danger of that type of strategy is that it leaves you susceptible to the virus potentially running away from you, and we want to avoid that at all possible costs. We saw over the period of about a week at Christmastime the degree to which the virus can absolutely gallop away from us and we want to avoid that because we want to avoid another period of lockdown.
‘We will work as co-operatively as we possibly can do but ultimately we’ve got to take the steps that we need within Scotland to suppress the virus to the lowest level possible.’
Asked if he would ‘close the Border’ if necessary because of the differences in approach, he said: ‘We don’t want to do anything of that type. It is a practical border that has to be crossed many times a day for essential purposes.
‘But we will take an approach which is designed to suppress the virus to the lowest level possible to help put us in the strongest position to make sure we are protecting the public.’
A senior police officer, however, has warned that the force will resist any pressure from ministers to impose border checks. Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor, the second highest-ranking officer in Scotland, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘We are a United Kingdom and to try to intervene with that would not be particularly effective.’
The first major lifting of lockdown restrictions in Scotland happens today when Primary 1 to 3 pupils return to school full-time, while nurseries are able to reopen and senior secondary pupils can attend to finish off practical work.
It was also announced at the weekend that care home visiting will be allowed, limited to up to two designated visitors once a week.
Mr Johnson said he would prioritise the reopening of schools in England and safely reuniting loved ones in his road map out of lockdown. He will use a speech to Parliament today to detail the ‘cautious’ approach for lifting restrictions across England.
His road map will contain four tests for easing the measures, with the Government set to examine the data at each stage before unlocking further.
Nicola Sturgeon is due to unveil her route map out of lockdown tomorrow. But she is expected to only outline the order that restrictions can be lifted if public health targets are met, rather than providing specific reopening dates.
Professor Devi Sridhar, a member of the First Minister’s Covid Advisory Group, said countries such as Israel have shown that getting the vaccine to people in their 20s and 30s can lead to cases falling but
warned that is still ‘a far way off’. She told Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News: ‘The question is how do we ease restrictions in a one-way process, so we don’t see a third wave over the next few months whilst the vaccine is rolled out. And that requires a strong test-trace-isolate system.’
But garden centre bosses are among those who have criticised the tougher restrictions in Scotland.
Simon Fraser, managing director of Ben Reid Garden Centre in Aberdeen, said: ‘Garden centres are open in England – why are we shut? The huge problem we have got is that a good proportion of everything sitting in garden centres is perishable plants. It’s very frustrating.