Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 16 September 2020
Thank you, Presiding Officer.
That is the heart of the matter, but I have to ask the cabinet secretary why 30 countries are using some form of airport testing. Why are Ireland, Iceland and Germany using it if we are not? The Government must answer that question.
We must take clinical advice seriously. People write to me about quarantine. Some people are adhering to it. Some people cannot, or do not want to, because they have jobs in which they do not get sick pay. Most people I talk to say that, if everybody adhered to the quarantine policy, that would be all right. We have to weigh up what the most effective policy would be.
I believe that the First Minister has left the door open, and she is right to do that. The airports are telling her that, if she does not change the policy and is not satisfied that what is proposed will still protect public health, we will see mass job losses. In Glasgow, the city that I represent, the figure is predicted to be about 5,000. That is a big number and it is a big issue for us in Parliament.
I turn to the issue of the just transition to a greener system, which Colin Smyth began to address. We all signed up to the idea that people would take fewer flights and that there would be a just transition. However, it needs to be done in a planned way and should not be done on the back of an economic crisis, with the industry spiralling into disaster. I cannot agree with the Greens’ approach to the issue. There is no chance that Glasgow airport will return to last year’s levels. In fact, the current thinking is that recovery will take five or six years or even longer without Government support. It is unfortunate that the Greens could not at least join with Labour on our motion today, with the caveats and positions that they want to take on a just transition, because first and foremost the issue is about jobs and our economy right now.
There are only two flights from Glasgow to London now and there used to eight. We might not want to go back to eight, but two will not be enough to sustain the business that Glasgow businesses need, and for many businesses, the train is not an alternative. Perhaps on another day we can discuss with the cabinet secretary the failings of the rail network.
We should recognise that passengers are nervous about travelling. However, those who do travel do not have confidence in travelling under the current policy. The position of the Scottish and UK Governments appears to be that a negative test on arrival does not mean that a person does not have Covid, so that point has to be acknowledged. However, Graham Simpson has spoken twice in the chamber on what I believe is the airports’ position on testing, which I ask the cabinet secretary to acknowledge. The fact is that many countries have a double test—