The Scottish Conservatives have this morning voted against the SNP’s extension of emergency Covid powers for another six months at the Covid-19 Recovery Committee.
Shadow Covid Recovery Secretary Murdo Fraser said the move by Deputy First Minister John Swinney ‘flies in the face’ of the new strategy of learning to live with Covid outlined by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday.
SNP MSPs on the committee voted for the measures, as did the committee’s Labour representative, meaning the powers first used in March 2020 have now been extended to 24 September this year. The SNP Government are also planning to make these powers permanent in law.
Murdo Fraser described the six-month extension as a ‘dangerous power grab’ and at odds with moves towards putting greater emphasis on personal responsibility in dealing with the virus, rather than imposing blanket legal restrictions.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Covid Recovery Secretary Murdo Fraser MSP, said: “This is an unacceptable and dangerous power grab by the SNP Government. It completely flies in the face of the strategy outlined by Nicola Sturgeon earlier this week of learning to live with the virus.
“It was welcome that the First Minister adopted much of what the Scottish Conservatives outlined in our Back to Normality paper earlier this month. A much greater emphasis on personal responsibility instead of strict restrictions on our lives, must be the way forward.
“However, extending a raft of emergency Covid powers for another six months is totally at odds with that. Sweeping powers to close schools and release prisoners early can be made at a moment’s notice without the SNP needing to consult Parliament.
“This is a sign of the SNP Government wanting to cling on to power over our lives. They want to go even further than this extension by making these permanent in law.
“The Scottish Conservatives firmly opposed this extension, unlike Scottish Labour, and will continue to oppose any plans to make Covid powers permanent at every turn.”