Scottish election 2021: Freedom Alliance targets Covid restrictions

Carol Dobson said the Freedom Alliance came together as a group of people with deep concerns about human rights

The current system of government in Scotland is not "serving the needs of many people" and should be more robustly opposed, the leader of the Freedom Alliance group has said.

The anti-lockdown party is standing candidates across Scotland on 6 May.

It wants to scrap face covering rules and reinstate international travel without any "vaccine passports".

Interim leader Carol Dobson said the Freedom Alliance was made up of people who "care deeply about human rights".

And she claimed it was "theoretical" that lockdowns had saved lives, saying there was "great evidence to suggest other lives are being lost" due to them.

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The Covid-19 lockdown was backed by all parties at Holyrood, with emergency legislation being agreed unanimously by MSPs at the onset of the pandemic.

Ms Dobson told BBC Scotland that the Freedom Alliance was an alternative for people who were "not comfortable" with how their lives had been "adversely affected".

She said: "We have had this system of government in place for quite some number of years, it does not appear to be serving the needs of many people, certainly not this last year.

"We have not seen anything much of an opposition to the Scottish government over the last year, we have seen many laws and regulations passed very quickly with very little or no consultation with people during this despite the very large effect it's had on people's lives.

"We have come together organically as a group of concerned people who care deeply about human rights and human needs. We are coming at this from a place of really caring about what's happening to people."

Freedom Alliance supporters have taken part in anti-lockdown protests in Edinburgh

The Freedom Alliance is neutral on the issue of Scottish independence, saying its MSPs would abstain on any votes on the subject.

It backs more taxes on "big online corporations" and a "windfall tax" on firms which manufacture Covid-19 vaccines.

Its online manifesto says the furlough scheme and the "costly propping up of non-viable jobs and businesses" should be ended and that Scots should be allowed to travel abroad without requiring a vaccine passport or negative test.

Ms Dobson said the party was at its core "pro human rights and pro human needs".

She said: "We believe in fundamental principles - any person should have the freedom to leave their home whenever they choose. I really think about the whole Earth as being my home. My dwelling is where I live, but the whole Earth is my home and I don't think it's appropriate for another person to instruct me that I may not leave that place and walk about the Earth.

"The Freedom Alliance is saying that you as a free human are free to leave your home whenever you choose, to freely associate with whom you choose, meet and assemble with whom you choose, speak and think how you choose, and be self-determining.

"People should be able to operate their businesses, other people should be able to then conduct business with the business people - it's a free choice, nobody is going to force anyone to go into a shop or go to the hairdresser - you should be allowed to make an adult choice about that with decent information given to you so these decisions can be made appropriately."

Ms Dobson said the recent easing of restrictions was not a blow to her anti-lockdown party, saying "the profound effect of lockdown will be felt for months to come".

She also said she was concerned that there could be a "third wave" of the virus and that lockdowns "may not be gone for good".

Both the Scottish and UK governments have defended the use of lockdowns to contain the spread of Covid-19.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said "many lives" had been saved by the collective national effort to halt new infections.

And Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK had "no choice" but to go into lockdown in January due to the emergence of new variants of the virus - telling MPs that "we must do everything possible to stop the spread of the disease".

The World Health Organization has also backed limited use of lockdowns, saying that while they can have a "profound negative impact on individuals, communities and societies", some countries "have had no choice but to issue stay at home orders and other measures to buy time" against the virus and slow its spread.

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