Used my one free times article of the week to copy and paste this 😀. Looks like your right @shouldistop about us all coming out of lockdown at the same level (and very slowly 😭). It doesn’t feel like she’s being very upfront about this with us
No More Tiers
Scotland will emerge from lockdown as “one country” rather than relaxing regional rules at different stages, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Last month the first minister indicated that the tier system, which set rules according to the levels of the virus in each council area, would be reintroduced on April 26 — when most shops and businesses are due to reopen.
But she told Holyrood’s Covid-19 committee yesterday: “I hope — and I’ll set out more of our thinking and expectations around this at parliament next Tuesday — that when we come out of lockdown measures initially we can come out as one country.”
Sturgeon added: “Then in future, if we have outbreaks or flare ups, we can use the level system to deal with that. I hope that some substantial parts of the easing of lockdown can apply all across the country.
“It may very quickly be possible for some parts to go faster; I’m talking there about island and rural communities in particular.”
The first minister rejected calls from Donald Cameron, the Conservative MSP and committee convener, to speed up the reopening process. She said: “My focus and priority is to try to make it steady and one directional, rather than going too fast now and finding we take one step forward and two steps back.
“The exit from lockdown, and I think this is true UK wide just now, is slower than any of us want it to be,” she said. “I can’t guarantee we won’t have to do that, but a bit of caution at this stage is the best protection and mitigation against that.”
Annabelle Ewing, the SNP MSP for Cowdenbeath, highlighted concerns raised by Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, that the country could face a third wave of Covid-19 this summer. Dr Gregor Smith, Whitty’s Scottish counterpart, said: “I think it is a possibility that we will see a further surge later in the summer, most likely.”
He added: “I have seen the modelling which shows the path towards that. So much is dependent on how all of us respond to this gradual reopening of society that we are undertaking just now.”
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Sturgeon said: “I heard Chris Whitty’s comments. I think he is right to be quite blunt about the risks that still lie ahead. The thing we have got that we didn’t have when we came out of the first lockdown last year is the suppressive effect of the vaccine.”
The first minister told Willie Coffey, the SNP MSP for Kilmarnock, that she was keen to have fans back attending football matches, citing her father’s impatience to cheer on Ayr United.
“I hope that before too long, in some competition or other, fans will be able to be in Somerset Park to watch Ayr United beat Killie,” she said. “If the vaccine keeps going as it is going just now we can be really hopeful that all of these things are not too far in the future.”
The decision to adopt a countrywide, rather than a regional, approach to emerging from lockdown mirrors Boris Johnson’s plans for England.
The first minister also refused to rule out adopting a five-week break, between easing measures — to allow analysis of their impact — which is the system which is being proposed south of the border. The Scottish government has previously suggested that three weeks would be sufficient.
Sturgeon said: “We did weekly reviews when the level system was in place at the end of the year.
“But in terms of making actual changes we tended to work in at least a three-week cycle and that is what we would anticipate as a minimum as we go into this next phase.
“There may be arguments, and we are thinking through all of these things just now, about making that slightly longer, given that we are dealing with a much, much more infectious variant.”
TV briefings may continue
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated that she could still do televised coronavirus briefings during the Holyrood election campaign.
The first minister insisted it would not be “business as normal” but that she had a duty to communicate big decisions about the virus to the public. She said: “I remain first minister, so remain accountable during a health crisis. We have to have the ability to communicate directly with the public.”
Asked by Monica Lennon, the Labour MSP, about whether the Scottish government would use experts, such as Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, and Gregor Smith, the chief medical officer, to front the briefings, Sturgeon said no “final, detailed decision” had been made.
Sturgeon, who was answering questions from Holyrood’s Covid-19 committee, added that “already the briefings are happening less frequently”.
Opposition MSPs have expressed concerns that Sturgeon’s regular appearance on the briefings could give her an advantage in the election.
The first minister said: “It is not in my interest to be seen to be abusing the position of first minister, and I will not do that. I suspect you will be seeing more, even more of Gregor and Jason in terms of a day-to-day basis.”