A route map to the starting point
- Published
Scotland's approach to easing lockdown is more cautious, and gets many businesses only as far as the point they are allowed to reopen their doors.
The travel industry and events sector, entering their vital summer season, are left with most uncertainty, and detail on the lower levels of constraint are yet to be set out.
It's a route map, but it's only big enough to get to the starting point.
Many businesses have been asking when they will be allowed to reopen. Now they have some rough indication, pencilled in to the calendar, but far from all of them, and with distancing still required.
In contrast with Boris Johnson's approach for England, Nicola Sturgeon's statement at Holyrood was not a route map to a late summer of socialising, concerts, sports and travel.
The plan is far more cautious. Nicola Sturgeon's idea of release, maybe by late April, is to get through the doors of a restaurant or bar.
Both leaders had said they were putting data ahead of dates, but it was the prime minister's dates that the public notice, remember and plan on. Travel bookings soared on Monday and Tuesday.
'Finger in the wind'
Scotland's first minister is warning that dates are not much better than "a finger in the wind", and depend on a lot of data variables to reach each point. Scotland's travel and tourism industry isn't being given much to plan on.
So by the final week of April, the mainland and most islands may be allowed to ease off, but only to level three.
That should mean pubs and restaurants can reopen, but with tight constraints.
When does it mean you can book a holiday in another part of Scotland? We don't know, but we do know the answer will vary around Scotland. Unlike England, it's returning to regions and council areas to determine where rules can be relaxed and where they can't.
What about a foreign holiday? There's nothing in the new plan that even indicates an end to hotel isolation for inbound travellers.
Can Scotland's events sector get to work with planning festivals? Not for "a considerable period ahead", according to the Scottish government framework, and it promises to work with sector representatives to get to their own route map.
It's only after running through the educational, health and social priorities for easing lockdown that the Scottish government's strategy reaches business support. Funding continues, in grant schemes funded through Holyrood and councils.
Income support schemes, including furlough, are expected to get another lease of life from Rishi Sunak in his Westminster budget next week.
Grants for firms forced to close in Scotland are to be run four weeks past their reopening day, and some may be further tapered after that.
Business bosses complain, however, the grants don't go far enough and furlough comes with employer costs.
To continue burning through cash will be a severe stretch for many firms, still looking into a cloudy and uncertainty future beyond April.
- Published23 February 2021
