Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 18 June 2020
18 Jun 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Covid-19: Next Steps
It is no exaggeration to say that lives and livelihoods will be on the line over the coming months. We are facing what is potentially the biggest economic downturn of our lives. We need the Government to respond with urgency and ambition, but that the Government is simply not showing that ambition.
Let us examine the dilemma that is faced by working parents. Andrew McRae of the Federation of Small Businesses put the problem well this morning in saying that if businesses and the economy are to return, they need staff in place. He continued:
“That is why we are worried by the suggestion that some children will only return to school a couple of days a week well into the autumn—making life incredibly difficult for working parents.”
He is right. How is a single working mother with two children at home for three days a week supposed to get back to work? What measures will be in place for her? Does she not deserve more than what the First Minister called “a contingency plan”?
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
Good afternoon. Our first item of business today is a statement from the First Minister on Covid-19: next steps. The First Minister will take questions after...
The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon)
SNP
Presiding Officer, thank you for the opportunity to report on the latest review of the coronavirus lockdown regulations. First, I will summarise the progres...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
The First Minister will now take questions.
Jackson Carlaw (Eastwood) (Con)
Con
It is no exaggeration to say that lives and livelihoods will be on the line over the coming months. We are facing what is potentially the biggest economic do...
The First Minister
SNP
It is regrettable that Jackson Carlaw is incapable of rising to the challenge of a national crisis. I have recognised all along how difficult this is for ind...
Jackson Carlaw
Con
I note the limited relaxations that the First Minister announced; indeed, I welcomed every one of them a fortnight ago when they were announced elsewhere, to...
The First Minister
SNP
I will not do that right now because I am standing up in the Scottish Parliament’s chamber answering questions. However, this afternoon I will speak to all t...
Jackson Carlaw
Con
I am glad to hear that the First Minister is engaging with all those organisations. I hope that she is not just talking to them, but is finally listening to ...
The First Minister
SNP
I have comprehended the depths of the health crisis, the economic crisis and the education crisis since day 1. With my ministerial colleagues, I have literal...
Jackson Carlaw
Con
We all welcome plans to get the country out of lockdown, but Scotland does not need just a plan to open back up—it needs a route map back to recovery, as wel...
The First Minister
SNP
Jackson Carlaw should deal with the Twitter trolls among his own members before he starts to give anybody else lessons. This is serious stuff. Let me try ...
Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Four weeks ago, when the Government launched its route map out of lockdown, I said that the Labour Party stood behind the First Minister and the Government. ...
The First Minister
SNP
I will first address Richard Leonard’s three points on guarantees. First, when we take the decision to move from one phase to another, we publish the analysi...
Richard Leonard
Lab
I understand the First Minister’s caution, but it needs to be underpinned by the resources going into not just testing capacity but testing being carried out...
The First Minister
SNP
I think that I committed to that the first time that Richard Leonard asked me about it. Indeed, the Scottish Government is working already on the recovery in...
Richard Leonard
Lab
I turn finally to the subject that has preoccupied lots of people this week. Parents across Scotland have shared their anger over the past few days about a l...
The First Minister
SNP
Yes, but—I hate to point out the basics to Richard Leonard—we have to do the work to produce that. That is what is happening right now. On the day we publi...
Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)
Green
The Scottish Greens stand in solidarity with asylum seekers. We will support them in their efforts to make a better life for themselves and we utterly condem...
The First Minister
SNP
I associate myself with Alison Johnstone’s opening remarks. The scenes in Glasgow last night were horrifying and disgraceful, and we should be pretty blunt a...
Alison Johnstone
Green
I welcome the First Minister’s remarks about face coverings and their part in protecting our key transport workers on our buses, trains and ferries. She is r...
The First Minister
SNP
There is active engagement across all sectors, and we are publishing guidance for all sectors about safe opening. The responsibility is placed on employers t...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
I thank the First Minister for advance sight of her statement. I reiterate my intention to continue to provide constructive support to make this work. The F...
The First Minister
SNP
That is an important question. I will be frank: there is no single, straightforward answer to any of these questions. That is hard for me to say and it is ha...
Willie Rennie
LD
The First Minister knows that I support a focused approach. However, the problem is that she is asking people to return to work, and their employers are expe...
The First Minister
SNP
I do not know whether Willie Rennie is saying that we should not open up parts of our economy carefully, or whether he is saying that we should put children ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
As everyone can imagine, there is much interest among members in this topic. I encourage everyone to keep it succinct and to the point.
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
SNP
I share the First Minister’s interest in the economy being boosted as safely and carefully as possible. The ambitions of many businesses to develop their pre...
The First Minister
SNP
We have said that non-essential offices should remain closed but that other indoor workplaces can start to reopen. Lots of organisations have been doing a lo...
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
Dentists in more than half the dental practices in Scotland that have been surveyed fear that their practice will not survive the coronavirus crisis. They fe...
The First Minister
SNP
I do not think that that is a fair characterisation. The chief dental officer has been working closely with the dental profession. The plan that he put toget...