Pubs and restaurants ‘will lose £1m a day after last-minute lockdown U-turn’

PUBS and restaurants will lose £1 million a day due to the Scottish Government’s last-minute U-turn on Glasgow’s lockdown status, industry leaders have warned as they lambasted the £750 compensation offer to businesses affected.

Hundreds of hospitality firms already counting the cost of lockdown restrictions had been gearing up to open today, buying produce and stock to serve to customers.

But Nicola Sturgeon announced late on Friday that the planned move out of level three restrictions in Glasgow had been cancelled following a surge in cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 on the city’s south side and also in Moray, where tougher measures will also remain in place.

Opposition politicians have demanded emergency measures similar to those being deployed in English outbreak hotspots, where the military has been called in to boost vaccinations and testing rates.

Stephen Montgomery, spokesman for the Scottish Hospitality Group, told the Sunday Mail: “Business owners have been devastated for over a year and this date in May was something they had been holding out for. An apology for this late announcement, to be frank, just doesn’t cut it.

“I have written to Economy Minister Fergus Ewing and Glasgow City Council to find out the postcode areas of those affected because total confusion remains over how far this extends.”

The First Minister has asked people not to travel in and out of Glasgow and hospitality businesses which will now not be able to open indoor for drinks have been offered £750 compensation.

Mr Montgomery said: “Hundreds of businesses have bought in stock that for an average bar will be £6,000 to £10,000 and taken on staff, so the £750 compensation offer is ridiculous.

“We have been asking for weeks whether Glasgow would definitely be coming down from level three and got no answers. We wanted to be able to tell members to be careful about buying stock but we have been getting nothing from the Government.

“Making an announcement at 4.45pm on a Friday didn’t give anyone a chance.

“It will easily cost businesses in Glasgow over £1m a day and thousands of staff will not now be going to work. That is before you get into the supply chain, where there will be a knock-on effect right up the line.”

In Bolton, Blackburn and Darwen, the army is to be deployed to help with mass testing and vaccinations. Extra clinics are being set up to boost vaccination capacity, with more mobile testing units afoot.

A rapid response team of 100 nurses, public health advisers and environmental health officers has also been sent in.

Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray said: “Every resource available must be used to contain the virus in the hot spots in Moray and Glasgow.”