Nicola Sturgeon was accused of ‘leaving businesses in the dark’ by the Scottish Conservatives today as she stalled on making a decision over expanding her vaccine passport scheme.
In Tuesday’s Covid update, the SNP Government delayed a decision on vaccine passports until next week.
The First Minister also raised the prospect of closing businesses around Christmas, stating that “we want, if possible, businesses to stay fully open over Christmas.”
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said the government needed to provide businesses with certainty over potential closures and the likely expansion of the vaccine passport scheme.
He also asked if the government would consider reopening mass vaccine clinics to speed up the pace of the Covid booster jag rollout, as the Scottish Conservatives had called for before Tuesday’s update.
Nicola Sturgeon did not address any of those questions.
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “There is a clear case for reopening mass vaccination centres, which were so successful in the early stages of the Covid vaccine rollout, to help increase the pace of the booster jag rollout. The government must start looking at every option for speeding up the delivery of the vaccine.
“The public were expecting clear decisions but instead we’re being told once more to tune in next week. The government has delayed again and created avoidable uncertainty.
“Nicola Sturgeon is once again leaving workers and businesses in the dark. They might have less than two weeks to adapt to changes to the vaccine passport scheme at one of the busiest times of the year for the hospitality industry.
“This delay shows a total lack of respect for Scottish businesses who the SNP Government expect to shoulder the costs of their scheme.
“The First Minister is hinting at the possibility of business closures but refusing point blank to outline what’s on the table.
“For the second week in a row, the SNP Government refused to say which businesses might be impacted by their plans to expand the vaccine passport scheme.
“Just like John Swinney last week, Nicola Sturgeon dodged every reasonable question about what actions the government might be planning to take in just a few weeks’ time.”