The left-separatist Scottish government, which ramped up COVID restrictions on Friday, is now demanding that the British government provides funds to bail out the nation’s businesses.
Scotland’s devolved government — roughly equivalent to a state government in the United States — implemented further restrictions on Friday in hopes of curbing the Omicron variant of the Chinese coronavirus.
However, the secessionist government, led by the pro-EU Scottish National Party (SNP), has declared that they wish to tighten restrictions even further, and are now demanding that the central government in London hands over funds so Scottish businesses can stay afloat while they do so.
According to a report by the BBC, retail and hospitality establishments in Scotland will have to ramp up Covid protections from Friday in order to “minimise the risk of transmission”.
Under the new rules, businesses are now legally required to take measures such as putting up protective screens, managing crowding within establishments, and implementing any other measure deemed “reasonably practicable”.
The government has also asked the public to limit their social interactions in the lead up to Christmas.
This includes asking people to postpone work parties, as well as to refrain from meeting up with individuals from more than three different households at any one time.
Despite the new restrictions now in place, the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the government actually desired to implement even stricter measures.
However, according to the BBC, the government was unable to do so due to a lack of funding, being unable to compensate businesses that would be affected by further restrictions.
Sturgeon has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting that he re-establishes support for businesses hit by the pandemic, or give devolved governments additional funds so they can implement measures themselves.
“Frankly, if we do not get Omicron under control we are sacrificing the economic recovery we all want to see,” Sturgeon wrote. “If the [British] Treasury does not provide financial compensation and protection, this result becomes all but inevitable.”
'Unmitigated Disaster' – Scotland's Vaccine Passport System Slams Hospitality Sector https://t.co/XIdpJdUbYf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 25, 2021
Meanwhile, the Scottish Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, told the BBC that the British government should provide £500 million immediately in order to fund support for Scottish businesses.
“We know that we can’t go further without additional funding — right now businesses are seeing a reduced amount of trade even though it isn’t lockdown, so people voting with their feet because of the message to reduce transmission,” Forbes said. “The argument is even if we were to go any further, we would absolutely need greater financial support.”
As the Scottish government struggles to find the funds for more lockdown restrictions, businesses in the region are still reeling from the previous measures put in place.
The SNP’s implementation of internal Covid passports in Scotland have been called an “unmitigated disaster“, with footfall dropping by up to 40 per cent for some businesses.
The disastrous effects of the restrictions prompted outcry from industry insiders.
“The Scottish Hospitality Group has been warning the government for weeks that their vaccine passports scheme is not ready — but the government’s attitude has been to tell us to ‘get on with it’ whilst offering no safety net of support for businesses or our hard-working staff,” said a representative of one organisation.
Lockdown Forever: Scotland’s Leftist Govt Want to Make Emergency Coronavirus Laws ‘Permanent’ https://t.co/k2Ijg7wbtc
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 18, 2021
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