A SCOTTISH business leader has said Nicola Sturgeon's signal of a delay to Scotland's lockdown easing will be "frustrating and painful for many Scottish businesses" who had hoped to reopen in time for the summer uplift.
The First Minister said it is "unlikely that any part of the country will move down a level from June 28".
Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "The statement from the First Minister today, which outlined that the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland is likely to be delayed at the next review by three weeks to the 19th July, will be frustrating and painful for many Scottish businesses who were gearing up to make the most of a boom in summer trade over the coming weeks.
“A delay next week will dampen hopes for many businesses, particularly for those sectors that remain closed and may be forced to wait even longer to reopen, placing them and the jobs they support at risk."
It was previously hoped the whole of Scotland would move to Level 0 from that date.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon signals delay to lockdown easing in Scotland
Ms Sturgeon said it is now likely ministers "will opt to maintain restrictions for a further three weeks from June 28 and use that time to vaccinate - with both doses - as many more people as possible".
Ms Cameron said: “Scottish businesses understand the need for restrictions to protect public health and it’s clear that the vaccine programme is the silver bullet that will facilitate the reopening of our economy. Any delay must be used to expand the vaccine rollout and deliver the crucial second doses that will move us out of lockdown restrictions faster.
“After months of uncertainty, businesses have been demanding greater clarity and we welcome today’s confirmation that the long-awaited publication of the Scottish Government review of the unviable social distancing rules and more detail on plans for taking Scotland beyond the levels system, will finally be published next week.”
Stephen Montgomery, spokesperson for the Scottish Hospitality Group, said: “This is a never-ending hell for hospitality workers and the businesses that employ them, especially those in the music and night-time sectors. However, if the Scottish Government is seriously going to consider better ways of managing our path through Covid then we would welcome that.
“Now is the right time to revisit the practical suggestions we put forward several times at the government’s request, such as tweaking the tiers so it’s easier for responsible businesses to trade viably while still protecting people’s health."
Scottish licensed trade operators said they are braced for “potentially another lost summer”.
The SLTA said: “Another summer season, essential for business survival, will be lost.”
The trade association’s managing director Colin Wilkinson said: “The hospitality sector is at breaking point with today’s announcement that the brakes are on for further easing of restrictions.”
Calling for further financial aid to ensure the survival of the licensed hospitality industry as it plays its part in rebuilding the economy, Mr Wilkinson said: “There needs to be an extension to the current support schemes available such as furlough, VAT reduction, deferral of loan repayments and so on.
“Our pubs and bars have already invested millions to provide a safe environment as we all learn to live with this virus and we need to be able to open without restrictions as soon as we can."
Former colliery wellness park plan consultation
A JOINT venture company between National Pride UK Community Interest Company and Falcon International Financial Services Limited is inviting the public to view and actively participate by providing feedback on its proposals to develop an environmentally sensitive Eco-Therapy Wellness Park.
Scottish construction consultant gears up for new office era
A SCOTTISH construction and property consultancy has abolished the nine to five working regime as it looks to promote the well-being of its employees amid the pandemic.
Sign up
You can now have the new enhanced Business Briefing with the top business news stories sent direct to your inbox, and Business Week for the weekly round-up on Sunday, by clicking below:
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel