Drivetime with Fiona Stalker
BBC Radio Scotland

With the UK economy suffering its worst month ever - shrinking by a fifth - thanks to the Covid-19 crisis, Drivetime, under way now on BBC Radio Scotland, looks behind the stark statistics and focuses on the the real people and real jobs being impacted in two industries - tourism and hair and beauty.

Concerns about the UK government's quarantine policy in particular today led British Airways, Ryanair and EasyJet to file a legal challenge.

While shops in Northern Ireland have reopened today, Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, says that, while she wants to protect the economy, she also wants to avoid another spike in deaths and illness.

Presenter Fiona Stalker has been speaking to one 28-year-old who went down with Covid-19 on 23 March and has still not recovered.

Drivetime with Fiona Stalker
BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

A trade union has urged the first minister to back its new campaign to provide a plan for colleges and universities.

The University and College Union launched its Fund the Future campaign to pressure the UK government to support teachers, researchers and other staff as the country recovers from the Covid-19 crisis by putting in place a "clear and coherent" plan designed to ensure educational capacity is not lost.

The union has written to Nicola Sturgeon to say more funding will be needed in addition to the £75m already pledged by the Scottish government to support university research.

It said that without government intervention, an estimated 30,000 sector jobs would be at risk across the UK, with a further 32,000 jobs under threat throughout the wider economy.

Business owners in Aberdeen say pedestrianisation measures designed to encourage shoppers back into the city centre could actually have a devastating impact on trade.

A number of temporary road closures have been put in place aimed at helping people stay socially distant, including a section of Union Street, Chapel Street, Rose Street and Thistle Street.

Aberdeen City Council says the changes will allow people to move safely around, to help start its social and economic recovery.

However a petition calling for a re-think has gathered more than 1,000 signatures.

Image source, Getty Images

With coronavirus infection rates falling in Scotland, is it possible that new cases could be imported from parts of England where the virus is still more of a problem?

The Scottish government has warned about a general rise in traffic in spite of lockdown.

But is cross-border traffic a significant risk?

Possibly the best way to determine this is to look at the data compiled by automated traffic counters.

BBC Scotland data journalist Marc Ellison analyses traffic on the roads between Scotland and England

Image source, EPA

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has called for the 2m (6ft) social distancing rules to be relaxed as quickly as possible.

Mr Jack said he believed the distance should be cut to 1m as soon as is it safe to do so, to ensure the tourism and hospitality sector were financially viable.

His call was echoed by economist and former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, who wrote the party's growth commission report.

Mr Wilson said reducing the distance was "mission critical" for many businesses across Scotland.

Read more here.

Image source, PA Media

Ride-sharing giant Uber is to make it mandatory for passengers and drivers to wear face coverings from Monday in the UK.

The minicab app firm said it was taking measures "to help everyone stay safe" and had introduced measures to give drivers access to protective equipment.

It comes after a study , externalsuggested masks could cut Covid-19 spread by up to 40%.

The Scottish government recommends face coverings in limited areas where there may be crowds, such as traveling on public transport or entering a food shop, but they will become compulsory on public transport and hospitals in England from Monday.

Read more here.

Image source, Bobby Gavin

Scottish athletes have been given a five-step roadmap setting out the return to performance sport.

Step one of the plan , externalnow in place includes athletes being allowed to travel more than the government's five-mile limit guideline to train.

Groups can also now train together - if they adhere to social distancing.

The five-step plan ends with performance sports being allowed to hold competitions with no restrictions - and crowds present - although there is no specific timeline to Sportscotland's plan.

Read more here.

• Three more people have died in Scotland who tested positive from Covid-19, taking the total under that measure to 2,442.
• First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for the UK government to extend the furlough scheme, saying that would help both save lives and jobs.
• She has written to the UK government urging it to extend the Brexit deadline as she believes an exit this year would be a further blow to the economy.
• Ms Sturgeon announced a £62m Energy Transition Fund to help that sector move to renewables despite the economic downturn.
• The first minister revealed research showing 90% of the Scottish population is willing to both isolate if they have Covid-19 symptoms and undergo testing.
• National clinical director Jason Leitch goes out his way to "debunk some myths" about Covid-19, such as sunshine preventing people catching the virus.

Broadcasting Scotland asks about progress on discussions over a universal basic income, following a feasibility study which has endorsed plans to run a pilot scheme.

Nicola Sturgeon says as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, she has moved from a position of "being interested" to being "very supportive of the concept".

The power split between the Holyrood and Westminster governments means the Scottish government could not unilaterally introduce a universal basic income, because tax and welfare powers lie largely with Westminster, says the first minister.

But she will seek to progress discussions in the period ahead, she adds.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop adds that Holyrood is "limited because of our powers, but that does not mean we are powerless".

Image source, Aberdeen Harbour Board

Adele Merson from the Evening Express points out that a new business park adjacent to Aberdeen South Harbour was part of the £62m Energy Transition Fund announced earlier by the first minister.

Ms Merson wonders if, following the announcement this week that the main contractor has pulled out of the Aberdeen Harbour expansion project, leaving one third of the work unfinished, the Scottish government is still committed to the project and prepared to give the harbour board assistance in completing it.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop replies: "The Aberdeen Harbour expansion is really important as part of that infrastructure response in the north east, and obviously there is concern about what's happened, but we absolutely stand by our support for the Aberdeen Harbour expansion and I hope the announcement we made today gives confidence to all those involved in the work around that.

"I know it's a challenge right now, but I'm sure they can achieve another contractor in terms of doing that work."

Image source, Getty Images

Could the economic situation in Scotland be worse than other parts of the UK if the country comes out of lockdown at a slower pace than elsewhere, wonders the Courier.

Nicola Sturgeon says it is important each country takes its own decisions, but the differences in when measures are eased "are a few weeks at most".

"I think we will do our economy more good if we build a sustainable recovery," says the first minister. "If we go for more speed at the price of that sustainability, the damage that is done is likely to be deeper and will last longer."

If a sector was allowed to reopen a week or two earlier than the data suggests is safe, they might be pleased in the short term, but the price might be restrictions on their ability to operate in the longer term if the virus runs out of control, she adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Scott Macnab of The Scotsman points out that the £62m funding boost announced today for the energy sector focuses on meeting climate change targets and wonders what it means for future exploration of oil and gas fields in the North Sea.

The first minister says that, although oil and gas has a part to play in the future of Scotland's economy, her focus is on renewables.

"But we are very clearly in the transition to renewables and that is very much what this fund is very much focused on," she adds.

The Scottish Sun's Christine Lavelle wonders if there is something about public attitudes that prompted the national clinical director to try to "debunk some myths" about Covid-19 in his opening remarks today.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon suggests it might be something to do with the nature of how some of those myths are reported in parts of the media.

Prof Jason Leitch himself replies: "Nothing specific in the last 24 hours, but I do watch social media and have had an increased interest in the print and broadcast media and I do see some of those myths getting traction - principally by individuals in the social media space.

"The examples I gave were just examples of what I would call fake news. The principle is really important. The WHO has put information out on how to deal with mental health, how to help with infection control, what to do about face coverings and what to do with the information you take in for the pandemic.

"I think our communication has been very up front and very vocal - here and in the media. I never thought the first minister and I would ever be on the chart shows in Scotland trying to talk to a different audience."

Image source, Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon is asked by PA Media how long she would like to see the UK government's job retention scheme extended or, if it has to come to an end, what forms of subsidy she would like introduced.

The first minister says she wants to seek a "point of principle" in discussions with the UK government that there "cannot be a premature end" to the scheme.

She points to the example of France, which this week said it is prepared for some kind of scheme being in place for up to two years.

"We need to give that kind of longer-term certainty," says Ms Sturgeon, who points out the UK government deserves credit for the "significant amount" of money it has already committed.

If that is withdrawn prematurely, the burden will just fall on the government in different ways if people "avoidably become unemployed", she adds.

Image source, PA Media

Phil McDonald, from Global, wonders how many people employed in the contract tracing system have been furloughed from other employers and wonders what happens to the Test and Protect system when they return to their normal work.

The first minister says she does not have a figure on furloughed employees but will try to find out.

Nicola Sturgeon, though, says that the initial plan was to make sure there were 2,000 working in the new system on 28 May and these were mainly people redeployed from other parts of the NHS while a recruitment process was under way. Some of those new people would replace NHS workers who will return to their previous posts.

She and national clinical director Jason Leitch suggest there are no fears that the Test and Protect system will be left short of the number required to operate it efficiently.

Image source, PA Media

Nicola Sturgeon has warned there is a "significant risk" associated with changing the social distancing rules at this phase of lockdown.

The first minister said sticking with the 2m rule was not an ideological move, saying her government has "no interest in making life more difficult than it needs to be".

She added: "The fact that we are not immediately taking that decision suggests that we must judge that there is a significant risk associated with it.”

National Clinical Director Dr Jason Leitch added: “There is no magic distance that removes all risk from this virus."

BBC Scotland's David Henderson suggests the Scottish economy could be facing a recession as bad as "anything in living memory" and suggests the £62m energy transition fund announced today is "only about a 10th of 1% of the Scottish budget the government controls and wonders if the recovery plan is equal to the challenge.

The first minister replies that the £62m is not the totality of the support being made available but points out the UK government needs to be encouraged to take action too.

"The key thing I want to impress on them is not to have cliff edges in the job retention scheme and the wage subsidy because that has the impact of potentially forcing businesses open before it is safe to do so or make people redundant," Nicola Sturgeon says.

Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop says the £62m is part of a plan for "green recovery" and looks forward to the recommendations of the economic advisory group to help the Scottish government tackle the issues.