Moray MP Douglas Ross has commented after the Prime Minister announced a range of relaxations in England, including a reduction from 2m to 1m for social distancing. From the 4th July many hospitality venues will reopen, hairdressers can accept customers again and various other measures including allowing households to meet indoors will be introduced.
The Moray MP is calling for SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to follow the Prime Minister’s lead in reducing social distancing requirements given all parts of the UK are in harmony with the direction they are taking and all four Chief Medical Officers agreed last week to reduce the threat level for Covid-19.
Douglas said: “Once again we see Scottish people and businesses being disadvantaged. Based on scientific evidence, the UK Prime Minister has taken the important step to cut social distancing from two metres to one. This was something one Moray business was waiting for to allow them to fully reopen, but in Scotland we have seen no progress on this.
“Despite being given all the information on which the UK Government based its decision, Nicola Sturgeon has dug in her heels and refused to make a similar move in Scotland. Instead, she has decided to take advice by the 2nd of July on relaxing the two-metre rule “in certain settings”.
“Meanwhile, progress continues to be made south of the border to help people get back to normal, with pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers and many others to re-open from the 4th of July, but the SNP Government in Scotland is once again holding Scotland back and more and more frustrated people across Moray have contacted me expressing their concerns about the differences between Scotland and England.
“Businesses, especially those in the hospitality sector, cannot make profit unless the two- metre social distancing rule is reduced.
“Nicola Sturgeon needs to follow the UK Government’s lead on reducing social distancing, but if she continues to refuse then she needs to provide the evidence for insisting that the two-metre limit should remain in place.
“The SNP’s intransigence once again looks to be based on her blind refusal to follow the UK Government’s lead. Playing politics like this is playing with the future of Scotland’s businesses is reprehensible.
“While the Prime Minister said in the House of Commons today that “Our national hibernation is beginning to come to an end and life is returning to our streets”, Nicola Sturgeon is keeping the freezer door in Scotland tightly shut.”