End the ‘shambles’ and return furlough
Central Scotland MSP Gillian Mackay has slammed the UK Government for its“utterly chaotic” approach to Covid and called for the reintroduction of the furlough scheme in Scotland.
The Scottish Greens politician’s call came prior to Thursday’s First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament when Nicola Sturgeon revealed that Omicron will become the dominant variant in Scotland following a sharp rise in cases over the last seven days.
She also announced that there had been 5951 new cases of the deadly virus identified in the previous 24-hour period, and almost half of those were the new variant.
Gillian Mackay believes the UK Government has to reintroduce the furlough scheme as a matter of urgency so Scotland can take protective measures against the variant whilst protecting jobs.
She also took a swipe at Prime Minister Boris
Johnson for his apparent failure to follow rules he laid out.
She said: “The UK Government has an utterly chaotic approach to Covid, with confusing messages undermined by the Prime Minister himself.
“Omicron is spreading fast and the UK Government must recognise the clear risks to vulnerable people and act decisively.
“The festive period is already disrupted, with many people cancelling plans for gatherings and hospitality businesses in Lanarkshire struggling.
“It’s time for the UK Government to act responsibly and reintroduce furlough where it is needed.
“Self-employed people could be particularly effected this Christmas, so it’s vital those who missed out last time are included in the scheme, and that sick pay is enhanced to make it easier for people to self-isolate.”
Reintroduction of the furlough scheme would help support workers and businesses many of whom are already suffering due to a significant loss in trade and closures caused by local outbreaks, as well as allowing devolved governments to take public safety measures to stop the spread of the new strain of the virus.
Without economic support from Westminster, the options available to the Scottish and Welsh governments and Northern Irish Executive are more limited.
Scotland’s First Minister also announced she has written to the PM requesting more financial support and asking to speak with him directly.
The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament: “There are simply no mechanisms available to the devolved administrations to trigger the scale of finance needed to support such schemes.
“We need the UK Government to act urgently and in the same way some other countries are already doing.”
She added:”We must not sleepwalk into an emergency that for both health and business will be much greater as a result of inaction than it will be if we act firmly and strongly now”.