Tag: Politics

First Minister: Blackpool’s aff!

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Wednesday 14 October):

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us . I will give the daily of statistics for COVID. I can report that the total number of new positive cases reported yesterday was 1,429.

That represents 16.4% of people newly tested, the total number of positive cases is now 42,685. 537 of the new cases are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 327 in Lanarkshire, 239 in Lothian and 92 in Ayrshire and Arran. 

The remaining cases were spread across 8 other health board regions. Only Orkney and the Western Isles did not have new cases reported yesterday.

I can also confirm that 570 people are currently in hospital – that is an increase of 43 on the number I reported yesterday.

49 people are currently in intensive care, that’s 14 more than yesterday.

I’m also very sad to report that in the past 24 hours, 15 deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days.

That means that the total number of deaths, under the measurement we use for the daily figures, is now 2,572.

Now confidentiality means that I can’t ever go in to detail about the people behind the statistics I report every day but I do want to point out this to you today, half of the 15 deaths that I’ve just reported are of people under the age of 80 – a small number of them are of people under the age of 60.

Please do not ever think that this virus only poses a risk to the lives of the very elderly – it poses a risk to all of us and I’m asking everybody again to take and treat that risk extremely seriously.

I can also report that National Records of Scotland has just published its weekly update, that as you will recall includes cases where COVID is a suspected or contributory cause of death.

Today’s update shows that by last Sunday, the total number of registered deaths linked to COVID, under that wider definition, was 4,301.

25 of those were registered last week, which is 5 more than in the week previously. 17 of the 25 deaths were in hospital, 7 in care homes, and 1 in a home or in an other non-institutional setting.

Once again, I want to send my deepest condolences to all those who have lost a loved one to this virus throughout the course of the pandemic and of course that is particularly the case to those who have recently lost someone and who are currently in that very acute stage of grieving.

Now tomorrow, Parliament has to review the restrictions we imposed on household visits three weeks ago. I will cover that issue and others in a video statement to a virtual meeting of the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.

As you might expect, we are unlikely, very unlikely to announce any changes or easing of the current rules on household gatherings.

I will however say a bit more to parliament tomorrow about new rules on face coverings, and about our options once the current two-week period of additional restrictions ends on 25 October.

For today though, the main issue I want to highlight relates to travel.

For many people, the October half term is approaching, and indeed in some parts of Scotland, it has already begun.

So I want to highlight some general guidance on travel, and I’m also going to provide one much more specific recommendation.

The first piece of general guidance relates to the five health board areas in Scotland that currently have additional restrictions on hospitality, because they have especially high rates of COVID just now.

And to remind you these areas are Lothian, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, Ayrshire and Arran, and Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

If you live in one of these five health board areas, we have already asked you not to travel unless you very need to – and not to leave your health board area unless it is really necessary.

And we’ve also asked people from the rest of Scotland, not to travel to any of these five central belt areas unless they really need to.

As I said last week, this guidance does not stop you from taking an October half-term break if you have already booked it and you don’t want to cancel. If you are taking such a break or if you are already on such a break, please be very careful and please follow all of the rules whilst you are there.

But this guidance is intended, very firmly intended, which is why I’m putting so much stress on it today, to minimise travel as much as possible between the central belt, and other areas of Scotland. So please ask yourself how necessary your journey is, before deciding – for example – to go on a day trip to another part of the country.

In fact, my general advice for everyone at the moment across the country is to think very carefully about whether you need to travel at all. And if you must travel, if your trip is necessary then travel carefully and safely.

For example make sure you wear a face covering on public transport, that is the law at the moment and also remember to physically distance from other passengers as much as you can. And avoid car sharing if possible.

The advice to think carefully before travelling is especially important in relation to areas with high rates of infection.

And so of course that advice applies – not just to travel to and from the central belt of Scotland and the more general advice I’ve just given to everybody but it applies to travel to and from parts of England with high levels of infection.

We are currently advising against non-essential travel to the parts of England which are classed as very high or high alert areas under England’s new three tier system. And I’m asking people from these areas not to travel to Scotland either.

Several of these areas are seeing even higher levels of infection than we are currently seeing in central Scotland and we will make sure we keep the information on which areas are covered by this guidance updated on the Scottish Government website.

But in addition to that general advice, there is a specific issue I want to cover today and I take no pleasure in doing this but it’s important that I give this advice and make a very specific recommendation to you.

Blackpool, a place that many Scots love and like to visit, particularly at this time of year, many of us have happy childhood memories of going to see the Blackpool illuminations – this is one of the places currently classed by the UK Government as a high risk area.

And I need to advise you that trips to Blackpool are now associated with a large and growing number of COVID cases in Scotland.

We indeed now have an Incident Management Team in Scotland that has been set up to look specifically at cases associated with Blackpool.

And I can tell you that in total, in the last month, and these figures are rising right now so the figure I’m about to give you will undoubtedly already be out of date – the most up to date figure I can give you is that in the last month around 180 people in Scotland with COVID, reported that they had recently been in Blackpool.

Now let me be clear, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they got COVID during their trip, as you heard us talk about in relation to hospitality it’s not possible to be absolutely certain where someone actually picked up the virus but Blackpool is being mentioned in Test and Protect conversations, far more than any other location outside of Scotland.

And to take the past week in more detail, 344 people who have spoken to Test and Protect teams after contracting COVID, reported some sort of travel outside of Scotland. 252 of those had travelled somewhere else in the UK. Of those 252, now remember this is in the last week alone, well over a third – 94 in total – had been in Blackpool.

So my specific advice is this. If you were thinking about going to Blackpool and you haven’t booked yet, then please do not go this year.

Even more specifically – because we know this is an issue – and I want to be very clear about this – do not travel to Blackpool this weekend to watch the Old Firm match in a pub. If you do that you will be putting yourself and you will be putting other people at risk, please do not do that this weekend.

And if you otherwise, not related to the football have already booked a trip; and you cannot cancel it without cost; and are determined to go – then please, please think very carefully indeed about how you travel, and what you do when you get there.

For example quite a lot of people who have contracted COVID, and who have also been to Blackpool, have travelled by coach. We understand that is very common, particularly at this time of year. Now again, that does not mean that they absolutely necessarily got the virus on the coach because we can’t be certain about that.

But if you have to travel to Blackpool by coach – or if you travel by any form of public transport – then try to maintain physical distancing, and make sure that you wear your face covering throughout the journey.

And once you arrive and I know this is really difficult, don’t spend too much time indoors – and don’t, if you can avoid it, spend much time in pubs and bars and other hospitality venues. Because doing that significantly increases your chances of getting the virus.

I know that many people look forward to trips generally but to Blackpool in particular in the autumn, and that for some of you – and I know that many people fall in this category it’s almost an annual ritual. But I’m asking you, if you can avoid it, please do so this October and if you do go there, if you have to go there – please be very careful.

My last point on travel relates to a letter I received yesterday from the First Minister of Wales and is very relevant to what I’ve already been talking about.

The First Minister of Wales is seeking agreement between the four UK nations on travel restrictions where necessary from high prevalence areas in one UK nation to lower prevalence in others. I want to be clear today, that I back the calls from the First Minister of Wales and I’ll be writing to the Prime Minister today to seek urgent talks on that issue.

I also support the First Minister of Wales call for another COBRA meeting in early course to discuss collectively between the four nations what further steps we can all take at this stage to suppress the virus.

Now, I’ve spoken at some length today about our guidance and recommendations on travel and that is for reason because it is important and restricting travel right now as much as we possibly can is another I know unwelcome but very important way in which we can all try to reduce and minimise the spread of the virus.

But of course there are other important steps we must all take to reduce our own personal risk of getting the virus or of passing it on to others. Including if we are in the younger healthier age groups ourselves, potentially passing it on to others who are much more vulnerable.

So please do not visit each other’s homes at the moment – except for the very specific exemptions for childcare or looking after a vulnerable person, stay out of the homes of other families right now, this is our single most important way of stopping the virus jumping from one household to another. I know it is incredibly hard but it is incredibly important.

When you do meet – outdoors, or in a café for example, which are allowed to stay open during the day to allow people somewhere that they can have contact with other – remember that the maximum group size is 6 and that should be from no more than two households. And that’s the rule that applies outdoors or in any indoor public place.

Only car-share if it is essential as I said earlier on. And if you must car-share, wear a face covering and try and keep the windows open.

Work from home if you can. That advice has never changed in Scotland – this is an important moment to underline it. If it is at all possible to, work from home. And employers across the country, please allow your workers to do that.

Download the Protect Scotland app, if you haven’t already done so.

And finally, remember the rules are encapsulated in FACTS – the difficult but fundamentally quite simple things we can all do to minimise the risk of transmission.

  • Wear face coverings whenever you’re out and about but particularly in any enclosed spaces.
  • Avoid places where crowds of places come together.
  • Clean your hands obsessively if necessary and clean hard surfaces after you touch them.
  • Keep a two metre distance from people in other households when you are coming in to contact with them.
  • And self-isolate, and book a test, if you have any of the symptoms of COVID and remember yesterday all of the information we gave yesterday about support for self-isolation – you can find that on the NHS inform and Scottish Government websites.

It is by following all of this advice and following of these rules however hard that it is and I know that it is hard, that we will collectively help to suppress the virus again.

We are, as I said yesterday, at a really critical moment again – many countries across the world are; we see more and more countries now dealing with a second wave and having to impose new restrictions – we will not shy away as the Scottish Government from doing what we think is necessary to keep the people of Scotland as safe as possible … but every single one of us can play a part in this, please follow all of these rules; don’t think it’s okay just to breach them on the odd occasion because the time you breach them may be the time the virus is close to you and may spread from you to somebody else or from somebody else to you.

And the chain of transmission that could set off could result in you becoming like the too many families across Scotland right now that are grieving the loss of a loved one.

So I’m sorry to be so blunt with you but I think it is important at this juncture not to shy away from these messages and to ask everybody right now to rededicate themselves to this collective effort to keep COVID under control and to stop it taking lives unnecessarily or making people ill unnecessarily.

So thank you once again to everyone who is doing that.

Commenting on the First Minister’s statement, Kirsty Licence, Chair of the Incident Management Team looking into cases associated with Blackpool, and led by Public Health Scotland said: “We are seeing a high number of cases of COVID-19 amongst residents of Scotland who have recently travelled between Scotland and Blackpool. 

“We know Blackpool is a popular destination, especially for holidaymakers from the west of Scotland. Many of these cases have travelled using group transport, especially coach, but also private transport, and many are of middle and older ages with increased risk of suffering from very severe COVID-19 illness.

“Our data shows the numbers of Scottish cases who visited Blackpool shortly before their illnesses substantially exceeds those having visited any other place in the UK. Over the past month, since 14th September, when Blackpool was first noted on a case there have been 286 cases in Scotland whose records note recent travel to Blackpool.

“These cases highlight the risk associated with travelling to areas with high rates of infection. People in Scotland should not be travelling to or from the health board areas under local restrictions except for essential reasons.  

“If you have to travel, follow all local guidance and restrictions, both where you live and where you are travelling to.  You should avoid close contact with others, keep away from crowded places and observe FACTS. 

“Those falling into a group that is at an increased risk of more severe illness, should in particular consider carefully where and how they travel.

“Anyone who has one or more symptoms of COVID-19 should immediately self-isolate and book a test. Those who are required to be in self-isolation either as a case or as a close contact of a known case must not travel – which may mean those visiting other areas of the UK are unable to travel out or return home for a significant period of time.”

MSP urges constituents to apply for self-isolation support grant

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald  has urged constituents who face financial hardship due to being asked to self-isolate to apply for a £500 self-isolation grant offered by the SNP Government. 

The new Self-Isolation Support Grant will help people across Edinburgh who would lose income if they needed to self-isolate, such as those unable to work from home.

This grant is for those who will face financial hardship due to being asked to self-isolate and will be targeted at people who are in receipt of Universal Credit or legacy benefits, with some discretion to make awards to others in financial hardship. 

Applications for the Self-Isolation Support Grant opened on 12th October and will be delivered through the existing Scottish Welfare Fund, which is administered by local authorities.

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald said: “I know that self-isolation can be tough, but it is essential to protect people and reduce the spread of coronavirus.

“To ensure people do not experience financial hardship as a result of doing the right thing, the SNP Government has introduced this new £500 grant for people on low incomes who have been asked to self-isolate.

“It’s essential that we do everything we can to support people throughout this challenging time.

“These payments will help ensure people across Edinburgh do not have to make a choice between self-isolating and supporting themselves financially.

“Applications for this new benefit are now open, and I’d urge anyone in Edinburgh who is facing a loss of income due to self-isolating to apply for it.”

Details of The Scottish Government Fund can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-test-and-protect/pages/support-grants/

Details of how to apply in Edinburgh: 

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/coronavirus-4/council-tax-benefits-welfare-coronavirus-advice/5?documentId=12927&categoryId=20297

By-election candidates confirmed

The candidates standing in the forthcoming Craigentinny/Duddingston Council by-election have been confirmed. Seven candidates have been nominated to stand in the by-election, which is due to take place on 12 November.

There will be additional hygiene and distancing measures at polling places on the day to keep voters and staff safe. These include a new pencil for each voter, protective screens for polling staff, limits to the number of voters in polling places at one time and one-way systems in some venues.

The candidates standing for election are: –

Elaine Ford, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Margaret Arma Graham, Scottish Labour Party
Tam Laird, Scottish Libertarian Party
Andrew McDonald, Independent
Ben Parker, Scottish Green Party
Eleanor Price, Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Ethan Young, Scottish National Party (SNP)

Returning Officer for Edinburgh Andrew Kerr said: “Now that nominations have closed residents in the Craigentinny/Duddingston ward can begin to think about who they will vote for in the upcoming by-election. However, it’s crucial that you make sure you’re registered to vote by 27 October to take part.

“With less than a month to go our Elections Team are finalising plans for a safe, physically distanced by-election, with several hygiene and distancing measures to be put in place. Anyone can also register for a postal vote before 28 October if they’d prefer not to vote in person.”

If you live in the Craigentinny/Duddingston ward you must register to vote by 27 October and anyone wishing to vote by post can sign up for a new postal vote up until 28 October. Residents will begin receiving poll cards from tomorrow (Tuesday, 13 October).

You can also apply for someone to vote on your behalf via proxy voting, with the deadline for new proxy vote applications on 4 November (for registered voters). After this, anyone who is unable to vote in person because of a medical emergency or who is following advice in relation to Covid-19 can apply for a proxy vote before 5pm on 12 November.

The by-election follows the resignation of SNP Councillor Ian Campbell in February. Craigentinny/Duddingston is one of the city’s larger wards, with an electorate of 24,258.

As of 9 October, 3,693 people had registered for a postal vote.

While the Conservatives are currently now the biggest party group in the City Chambers with 17 councillors, the capital is run by the SNP (16) with the support of Labour(11) in a ‘Capital Coalition’.

Find out more about the Craigentinny/Duddingston by-election, including all the safety measures in place, on the Council website.

Prime Minister announces new local COVID Alert Levels

The Prime Minister yesterday set out how the UK government will further simplify and standardise local rules by introducing a three tiered system of local COVID Alert Levels in England.

Addressing MPs before hosting a Downing Street press conference, he confirmed the levels will be set at medium, high, and very high.

He set out how this new approach will be simpler and standardised, and thanked local leaders who have engaged with the government over the weekend.

The “medium” alert level – which will cover most of the country – will consist of the current national measures, which came into force on 25 September.

This includes the Rule of Six, and the closure of hospitality at 10pm.

The “high” alert level will reflect many current local interventions, but there will now be consistency across the country.

This primarily aims to reduce household to household transmission by preventing all mixing between households or support bubbles indoors. The Rule of Six will apply in outdoor spaces, including private gardens.

Most areas which are already subject to local restrictions will automatically move into the “high” alert level.

The “very high” alert level will apply where transmission rates are causing the greatest concern, based on an assessment of all the available data and the local situation.

This includes incidence and test positivity, including amongst older and more at-risk age groups, as well as the growth rate, hospital admissions and other factors.

In these areas, the government will set a baseline of prohibiting social mixing indoors and in private gardens, with the Rule of Six allowed in open public spaces like parks and beaches.

Pubs and bars must close, and can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant – which means serving substantial meals, like a main lunchtime or evening meal. They may only serve alcohol as part of such a meal.

People will be advised not to travel in and out of these areas.

To create local consensus behind this more severe action, the government will work with local leaders on how individual areas should go beyond this baseline, which may include measures such as the closure of gyms, casinos, and leisure centres.

Non-essential retail, schools and universities will remain open in all levels.

Cases are rising rapidly across the country, particularly in the North East and North West, and this is resulting in increased hospitalisations and deaths.

The Prime Minster said that further action is required now to suppress the virus and make sure the NHS isn’t overwhelmed, and can continue providing essential services such as cancer care.

This follows significant local engagement throughout the weekend.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister spoke to Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, following detailed discussions over the last few days between all the region’s leaders, Chief Executives and senior government figures.

They discussed the huge challenge from rising numbers of COVID cases in the region and pledged to work together on combatting the virus.

Senior No 10 advisers and the Housing Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick also held discussions with local authority leaders and mayors from the highest areas of concern.

As the Prime Minister said, in recent months, local outbreaks have been tackled with targeted restrictions – helping save lives and avoiding the need to apply those measures nationally.

However, over time this has led to different rules in different parts of the country, with some rules becoming increasingly complex and difficult to enforce.

A postcode checker on gov.uk will show which alert level applies in each area and the NHS COVID-19 app will also direct people to this information.

Regulations for all three local alert levels were laid yesterday (Monday) and they will be debated and voted on in the House of Commons today (Tuesday). Subject to that vote, they will come into force on Wednesday, subject to the approval of Parliament.

These measures will be kept under constant review, including a four-week sunset clause for interventions in “very high” areas.

The PM also confirmed that the government will also provide Local Authorities across England with around £1 billion of new financial support.

He also said that engagement with other leaders in the North West, the North East and Yorkshire & Humber is continuing.

The PM also called on local leaders in the areas rated very high to work with the government on these measures, in return for more support for local test and trace, more funding for local enforcement, the offer of help from the armed services, and the job support scheme as announced by the Chancellor.

PM Boris Johnson made a statement at the coronavirus press conference:

Good evening everyone.

We are entering a new and crucial phase of our fight against Coronavirus.

Because the number of cases has gone up four times in four weeks and it is once again spreading among the elderly and vulnerable.

There are already more Covid patients in UK hospitals today than there were on 23 March when the whole country went into lockdown and deaths, alas, are also rising once again.

These figures are flashing at us like dashboard warnings in a passenger jet. And we must act now.

So we are giving local authorities across England around a billion pounds so they can protect vital services as they fight the virus.

Nightingale Hospitals across the North of England are being prepared for service.

And so we can squash this virus wherever it appears we are today simplifying, standardising and in some places toughening local rules in England by introducing three levels of Covid Alert.

  • Medium, with existing national measures such as the Rule of Six and the closure of hospitality at 10pm.
  • High, with extra measures including a ban on indoor social mixing between households or support bubbles.
  • And Very High, for places where, without further action, the NHS will swiftly be under intolerable pressure.

Areas within the Very High Alert category will be reviewed every four weeks and nowhere will be shut down indefinitely. And the exact restrictions at this level, Very High, will be worked out with local leaders, along with tailored packages of support.

But at a minimum they will, sadly, include a ban on all social mixing between households in private places, including gardens

and pubs and bars must close unless they can operate solely as a restaurant, serving alcohol only as part of a main meal.

We will also ask people not to travel into and out of Very High alert level areas.

Nobody affected by this will be left to fend for themselves.

And we will expand our unprecedented economic support to assist those affected by these decisions, extending our Job Support Scheme to cover two-thirds of the wages of those in any business that is required to close, and providing those businesses with a cash grant of up to £3,000 a month, instead of £1500 every three weeks, and extra funding too for those in the Very High category for local test and trace and enforcement.

You will shortly be able to type in your postcode into Gov.UK and see exactly what restrictions apply where you live.

The majority of the country will, for now, be at medium.

Most areas currently under local intervention will be at High, and Nottinghamshire, including Nottingham itself, East and West Cheshire and a small area of High Peak will also move to this level.

Over the weekend we have been working with local leaders in areas where the data are most worrying.

And from Wednesday, local authorities in the Liverpool City Region will move to the Very High alert level.

In addition to pubs and bars we have agreed with Liverpool City mayor Steve Rotheram that gyms, leisure centres, betting shops, adult gaming centres and casinos will close.

We are still working with other local leaders to determine how best to tackle the resurgence of the virus in their areas. But tackle it we will.

No one, least of all me, wants to impose these kinds of erosions of our personal liberty, but I am as convinced as I have ever been that the British people have the resolve to beat this virus and that, together, we will do just that.

With that I’ll hand over to the Chancellor, who has some more details on how we’ll be supporting these businesses, employees and areas affected by today’s changes …

Full details on what the COVID Alert Levels contain are set out below:

Local COVID Alert Level – Medium

This is for areas where national restrictions continue to be in place. This means:

  • All businesses and venues can continue to operate, in a COVID-Secure manner, other than those that remain closed in law, such as nightclubs.
  • Certain businesses selling food or drink on their premises are required to close between 10pm and 5am.
  • Businesses and venues selling food for consumption off the premises can continue to do so after 10pm as long as this is through delivery service, click-and-collect or drive-thru.
  • Schools, universities and places of worship remain open
  • Weddings and funerals can go ahead with restrictions on the number of attendees
  • Organised indoor sport and exercise classes can continue to take place, provided the Rule of Six is followed
  • People must not meet in groups larger than 6, indoors or outdoors

Local COVID Alert Level – High

  • This is for areas with a higher level of infections. This means the following additional measures are in place:
  • People must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place
  • People must not meet in a group of more than 6 outside, including in a garden or other space.
  • People should aim to reduce the number of journeys they make where possible. If they need to travel, they should walk or cycle where possible, or to plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport.

Local COVID Alert Level – Very High

This is for areas with a very high level of infections. The Government will set a baseline of measures for any area in this local alert level. Consultation with local authorities will determine additional measures.

The baseline means the below additional measures are in place:

  • Pubs and bars must close, and can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant – which means serving substantial meals, like a main lunchtime or evening meal. They may only serve alcohol as part of such a meal.
  • Wedding receptions are not allowed
  • People must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor or outdoor setting, whether at home or in a public space. The Rule of Six applies in open public spaces like parks and beaches.
  • People should try to avoid travelling outside the ‘Very High’ area they are in, or entering a ‘Very High’ area, other than for things like work, education, accessing youth services, to meet caring responsibilities or if they are in transit.
  • People should avoid staying overnight in another part of the UK if they are resident in a ‘Very High’ area, or avoid staying overnight in a ‘Very High’ area if they are resident elsewhere.

Local COVID Alert Level – Very High:

Liverpool City Region

  • Liverpool
  • Knowsley
  • Wirral
  • St Helens
  • Sefton
  • Halton

Scotland is likely to adopt it’s own version of the ‘three tier’ strategy when the current ‘circuit breaker’ ends later this month, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

She told yesterday’s press briefing: “We intend to develop our own tiering framework and take that to Parliament after the October recess and of course, that will coincide with the ending of the temporary reset restrictions announced last week.

“At a strategic level, we will be looking to align as closely as possible with the other UK nations. I think it is important and it makes sense to try to do that, though, I would stress, that operational decisions about which tiers might apply in which parts of our nations will be for each of us to take at a devolved level.

“The publication of a new framework will be a key step to guide us through the next phase of the pandemic. But it’s by no means the only step we will be taking over the next couple of weeks.

“What we want to do is ensure that these temporary restrictions don’t simply slow or reverse the increase in cases for a while, although that is clearly important, before things return to normal or as they were before these restrictions afterwards.

“What we want to do is use the two weeks to secure a longer term benefit and greater resilience as we know we will be living with this virus for some time yet to come.

“So, for example, as I indicated last week, later this week we will introduce regulations to extend the mandatory use of face coverings in indoor communal settings, for example, staff canteens and corridors in workplaces.

“We are also going to be taking action to strengthen compliance with the different strands of the FACTS advice. That will focus particularly on self-isolation because that is so essential to reducing and preventing transmission, but it also an area where we know, for understandable reasons, that compliance is not yet as high as we need it to be.

“We are also talking to different sectors of the economy, including hospitality and retail, to help them ensure that they can operate even more safely in future. For example, we have already asked shops to return to two metre physical distancing, and to reintroduce other measures, such as one way systems, that they had place earlier on in the pandemic.

“And finally, as I said last week in parliament, we are reviewing, again, our testing strategy. As we continue to expand our testing capacity, we are looking at the basis on which we would test more people including groups of people who do not have symptoms but who may, if the virus is not detected help to generate, or risk, community transmission, or transmission where people are vulnerable.

“So we will be working hard over the next two weeks, to further improve how we control the pandemic, while living as freely as possible for individuals and businesses, and we will be seeking to ensure that as we exit the reset restrictions two weeks from now, we do that on a more resilient footing.”

JVT: ‘We are at a tipping point’

The UK’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam outlines the current Covid-19 situation:

In our national fight against Covid-19, we are at a tipping point similar to where we were in March; but we can prevent history repeating itself if we all act now.

ONS data show that an estimated 224,000 people have the virus – up from 116,000 last week, hospital admissions for Covid-19 are rising again, as are intensive care admissions. Although the epidemic re-started in younger adult age groups in the last few weeks, there is clear evidence of gradual spread into older age groups in the worst affected areas.

Sadly, just as night follows day, increases in deaths will now follow on in the next few weeks. The good news, is that we are much more certain now that children are usually not badly affected by this virus.

The R for the UK is between 1.2 – 1.5. Roughly this means that every one case generates more than one new case, through onward transmission – so the epidemic grows larger. Every NHS region of England has an R that is well above 1.0, suggesting that widespread increases in transmission continues across the country, not just in the north of England. Scientists estimate that the doubling time in the UK for new infections is between 8 and 16 days and is even faster in some areas.

SAGE is clear that we need to act now.

Winter in the NHS is always a difficult period, and that is why in the first wave our strategy was: “contain, delay, research and mitigate” to push the first wave into Spring. This time it is different as we are now are going into the colder, darker winter months. We are in the middle of a severe pandemic and the seasons are against us. Basically, we are running into a headwind.

The NHS is bracing itself and they will do what they always do, which is work their socks off to help as many people as possible. But we need to be realistic – there is only so much they can do. We all have to help our hard-working NHS staff continue to care for everyone who needs it urgently, and provide as many non-urgent tests, checks and treatments as possible, by helping to stem the rising tide of infections.

People point out that we must not lose sight of the indirect harms of Covid-19. They are absolutely right. We need to keep elective surgeries and non-urgent services open for as long as we can; we need to keep cancer treatment and diagnostic services going; and we need to continue to provide mental health services. And importantly, we need people to come forward for that care when they need it – and we know that, during the first peak, fear of the virus put many off from doing so.

The best way we can do this is to keep the number of Covid-19 cases down. If cases rise dramatically the NHS will need to focus more on dealing with the life threatening situations immediately in front of them; this can mean freeing up staff and space by postponing other non-urgent procedures and treatments. We need to help the NHS by keeping Covid-19 numbers low; and in turn the NHS will be there for us, our families and loved ones.

The principles for how we keep transmission low have not changed. Above all else, if you have Covid-19 symptoms you must self-isolate in line with published guidance and get a test.

At all times, even when you are well, wash your hands regularly, wear a face covering in confined spaces and follow the 2 metre social distancing rules. By keeping our contacts low we reduce the number of opportunities for the virus to spread. I know this is very hard, but it is an unfortunate scientific fact that the virus thrives on humans making social contact with one another.

What I would give to have had the level of data, testing and medical insight we have now back in February and March this year. We now have much-improved testing capabilities, we know in more detail where the disease is, and we have better treatments.

Earlier in the year we were fighting a semi-invisible disease, about which we had little knowledge, and it seeded in the community at great speed. Now we know where it is and how to tackle it – let’s grasp this opportunity and prevent history from repeating itself.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce tougher restrictions for England tomorrow.

First Minister explains new regulations

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House, yesterday (Friday 8 October):

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. I will start with the usual report on the daily COVID statistics.

The total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 1,246.

That is 16.2% of people newly tested, and takes the total number of cases to 37,033.

440 of the cases were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 306 in Lanarkshire, and 192 in Lothian. 

The remaining cases were spread across 9 other health board areas.

I can also confirm that 397 people are currently in hospital – that is an increase of 20  since yesterday.

33 people are now in intensive care, that is  2 more than yesterday.

And I regret to say that 6 additional deaths have been registered of people who first tested positive during the previous 28 days. The total number of deaths, under the measure used in these daily figures, is therefore now 2,544.

Today’s total – and indeed all of the deaths that have been recorded in recent days – reminds us, and should remind us, again that Covid is a virus that is deadly for some people, as well as being really dangerous for others.

This is not a virus that we can be complacent about or just allow to spread unchecked, however much we might wish it was and I think that is an important point in the context of everything else I will say today. But let me at this stage pass on my condolences to everybody who has lost a loved one to this illness.

Now, I have a couple of points I want to update on today. First of all, let me report that two more walk-in testing centres have opened this week.

A new centre opened in Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire yesterday, and a centre is opening for bookings in Stirling shortly.

We are continuing to work with the UK Government to increase the number of walk-in sites across the country, and several more – including centres in Dundee and Inverness – are due to open later this month.

These add to the five walk-in centres that are already in operation – two in Glasgow and one each in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and St Andrews. These five centres, that are already operational, are within walking distance of student campuses, and therefore will be especially useful for students. But I want to stress that all walk-in centres are open to all members of the public. You can book a test by going onto the NHS Inform website.

As always, please don’t use public transport to travel to any testing centre.

If you do not have a car – and can’t walk, or cycle to a testing centre – please book a home testing kit through NHS Inform.

And remember, because this is an absolutely crucial point for all of us to understand, that you must start to self-isolate from the time you start to experience symptoms of Covid – you must not wait until you get a test result before you start self-isolating.

That is a really important point to make sure that we are doing everything we can to break the chains of transmission.

My second theme today, as you would expect, relates to the new regulations which come into force later today and tomorrow.

The regulations applying to hospitality will take effect at 6pm this evening – those relating to other premises like snooker and bingo halls take effect tomorrow. They will all  be in force until Sunday 25th October – in other words, across two weeks and three weekends.

First – and with the exception of five central belt health board areas that I will come onto shortly where tighter restrictions will apply – pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes will only be able to operate indoors on a very restricted basis.

They can only open indoors from 6 am to 6 pm, for the service of food and non-alcoholic drinks.

They can however continue to serve alcohol outdoors up to the existing curfew time of 10 pm.

In addition, hotel restaurants will be able to serve residents indoors beyond 6 pm, but will not be able to serve alcohol.

In all cafes, restaurants and bars that will remain open, the existing rules on meetings will continue to apply – so that means no more than 6 people can meet, and they should come from no more than 2 households.

However there is an exemption to these rules – and this exemption applies in all parts of Scotland – for weddings that have already been booked and of course for funerals. The current rules for these will continue to apply.

As I indicated earlier this week, we are introducing stricter restrictions in five health board regions: Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley.

I think you probably only need to look at today’s figures to get a sense of why we have taken that difficult decision. I mentioned that there are 440 new cases in Glasgow today, 306 in Lanarkshire, 192 in Lothian.

Numbers in Forth Valley and Ayrshire and Arran are lower – at 53 new cases in Forth Valley and 84 in Ayrshire and Arran – but they are still very high for the population of those areas.

And given that people live and work across all five areas, there can be a ripple effect between them, which is a further reason that tighter restrictions apply to all five of these health boards.

So in these areas, all licensed bars and restaurants will be required to close indoors and outdoors from 6pm this evening, though takeaways will be permitted. There is again an exception for hotels serving food and non-alcoholic drinks to residents.

Now I want to address a frustration about what I understand some see as a lack of clarity over the exemption for cafes – which are being allowed to stay open even in the central belt during the day as long as they don’t serve alcohol.

The reason for this café exemption is quite simple, it is to give people – particularly those who might be living alone and also working from home – somewhere they can still meet a friend for a coffee and a chat. And we judge that as important to help reduce the loneliness and isolation that comes with some of these restrictions that are in place right now.

But, and this is the other side of this balance, we are deliberately trying to reduce the volume of places that people come together so that we can stop the virus spreading, so we’ve got to draw any exemption really tightly.

That’s why we are not allowing premises like restaurants to decide to just stop serving alcohol, become cafes and therefore stay open – that would undermine the purpose of these restrictions.

But we did realise there was a potential anomaly for existing cafes that have an alcohol licence even though serving alcohol is very incidental to their business. What I announced the other day would have forced these cafes to close. In some areas – particularly rural areas – they might be the only cafe in a village.

So we decided to try to resolve this in a very targeted way. And in the 24 hours that we have been doing so, I readily accept that that has resulted in a lack of clarity.

But sometimes that’s the price we have to pay right now for trying to be as flexible as possible. It would have been easier and would have given much greater clarity just to stick to the position yesterday that cafes with a licence had to close.

But we decided to try to strike a different balance.

I can confirm that the Regulations being published today, I think they have just been published before the briefing started, have a definition of cafe which applies regardless of whether or not they have a licence. And that definition is –

“An establishment whose primary business activity, in the ordinary course of its business, is the sale of non alcoholic drinks, snacks or light meals.”

Now that is a definition based on what a cafe already does. It doesn’t allow a restaurant to now turn itself into a cafe.

I think business owners will know whether their establishment fits that definition or not. But any doubts or questions that any have should be discussed with local environmental health authorities.

I know how tough this is and I can’t tell you how sorry I am to be standing here in a position where we are requiring some businesses to close again. I am desperately sorry for that, and I know how desperately difficult this is for people trying to make a living, keep businesses they have worked to build up going and of course take care of their staff.

But government – all governments – are trying to strike right now almost impossible balances between lives and jobs.

And speaking for the Scottish Government, we are trying to do that as best we can. As I’ve said all along we will not always get it perfectly right but we are trying our best to get through this as well as we can.

Let me turn now to the other central belt restrictions that will be in place for the next two weeks.

Snooker and pool halls, indoor bowling alleys, casinos and bingo halls will close in those areas for two weeks, from tomorrow.

Contact sports for people aged 18 and over will also be suspended – with an exception for professional sports.

Indoor group exercise activities will not be allowed, although the current rules will remain in place for under-18s, and gyms and pools can remain open for individual exercise.

And outdoor live events will not be permitted in these five areas for the next two weeks.

And in general, we are advising people who live in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley not to travel outside the health board area that they live in, if they do not need to. Similarly, people in other parts of Scotland should not travel to those areas if they do not need to.

That said, we are not imposing mandatory travel restrictions at this stage. And we are not asking people to cancel any half-term breaks that they might have. But we are asking people, if you don’t need to travel – don’t do it at this stage.

Finally, if you live in these five health board areas please limit public transport to essential purposes only, for example, going to school or to work, if you are not able to work from home.

Now, I know that businesses who are affected by these temporary restrictions rightly want to know details of the compensation package that we are developing to support them for the next two week period.

We intended to publish details on the allocation of our £40 million support fund this morning. But we are now expecting an announcement from the Chancellor later today on furlough which might have an impact on our proposals, I hope they will have a positive impact on our proposals – so we will publish details after we have clarity on that. I would call on the UK government to ensure that whatever it announces today on furlough applies in Scotland from tonight.

However, I do now want to outline the three strands of the additional Scottish Government package:

  1. Support for employment – this was intended to top up the existing furlough scheme. However, it is this aspect that might be impacted – we hope positively – by the Chancellor’s announcement later today.
  2. We will give a cash grant over and above any employment support for each business that is being required to close or reduce their operations. This is likely to be at the same level as the support provided in Aberdeen when we had the local lockdown there – and that was, depending on rateable value, grants of £1000 or £1500.
  3. We will make available a discretionary fund for local authorities to distribute to businesses that are in need of support but might not fall into the categories that I have already covered.

As I say, we will publish details of that once we have clarity of the first strand which we hope to get from the Chancellor later on.  The restrictions which are coming into force today are significant, there is no way in which I can suggest otherwise. But the case numbers we have seen in recent weeks – including, increasingly, the figures now for people being hospitalised – show why these restrictions are necessary.

We have to stop the virus from spreading further. And having already restricted meetings between households in each other’s homes, the most important additional step we can take is to restrict people meeting up in places like bars and restaurants.

These measures still allow for some social contact in cafes as I have already outlined. And they do not prevent people from taking the half term holidays that they had already  booked, or from going ahead with weddings which have already been planned. We have tried to minimize the impact on your lives as much as possible while still doing as much as we need to do to get this virus under control.

But for a period, and this is why for a period of just over two weeks, we will remove some of the major opportunities the virus has to spread. And we do believe this can have and will have a significant impact on transmission.

And so I know these steps are unwelcome – and believe me when I say they have been imposed with the greatest reluctance – I would urge all of you to stick with them. The only alternative to restrictions like this right now is a continuing surge in COVID, which would take more lives and probably in turn require even tighter restrictions in the weeks and months to come.

Now in addition to the temporary restrictions which come into place this weekend, and this is the point I will end on – I would urge everyone to continue to stick with the existing rules and guidance.

None of us should be visiting each other’s homes at the moment – except for specific purposes like childcare. That is a really tough restriction but it is perhaps the most important way we have of stopping this virus jumping from household to household.

When we do meet – outdoors, or in cafes – the maximum group size is 6, from a maximum of two households.

In addition, only car-share if it is essential.

Work from home if you can.

Download the Protect Scotland app, if you haven’t already done so.

And finally, please remember FACTS – FACTS comprises the basic rules that if we all follow take away the opportunities for the virus to spread. So:

  • Face coverings
  • Avoid crowded places.
  • Clean hands and hard surfaces
  • Two metres distance from people in other households.
  • and Self isolate, and get tested, if you have symptoms.

I know this is tough, I really do know this is tough and none of what the government is doing right now is being done lightly. I do not want to be standing here imposing restrictions that limit the freedoms we all love and take for granted but this is, as it was at the very start of this pandemic, about saving lives and keeping each other as safe and as well as we possibly can.

We will get through this, it will pass, that much I do know, but I know it will pass easier and possibly more quickly if we pull together, stick together and look out for each other by doing all of these really important things. So my deep gratitude to all of you for that. Jason is now going to say a word of two before he and I turn to questions as usual.

Cosla welcomes additional support worth £750 million

A package of financial flexibilities and extra funding for councils which could be worth up to £750 million has been agreed by the Scottish Government in partnership with COSLA.

To address the financial pressures caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic over the next two years, councils will be granted additional spending powers which could be worth around £600 million.

In addition to this, a Lost Income Scheme will be established to help compensate councils and council trusts for lost sales, fees and charges from services such as sports centres and parking charges.

Councils and their trusts will have access to an estimated £90 million of funding with council trusts delivering services on behalf of councils able to receive a share of a further £49 million of support through the scheme.

Added to additional funding already committed, this brings the value of the overall COVID-19 support package for councils to more than £1 billion.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: “I have been clear that the Scottish Government needs appropriate fiscal levers in order to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is equally true for local government, which is why I am very pleased that we have been able to deliver a package of support for local services worth up to £750 million.

“Working in partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government has delivered on our commitment to support councils across Scotland with a game changing package of financial flexibilities, giving them the powers they need to make informed decisions about spending at a local level.

“In addition, we are close to finalising the details of additional financial support through a Lost Income Scheme, worth an estimated £90 million subject to confirmation of the funding from the UK Government. For trusts delivering services on behalf of councils this can also be topped up with £49 million of additional funding already confirmed.

“This support will help councils and their trusts manage the loss of income they are facing from local services due to COVID-19.  

“These measures are excellent examples of how the Scottish Government is working together with COSLA and local authorities to ensure that we are doing everything within our power to save jobs, protect our public services and reboot our economy.”

COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson Cllr Gail Macgregor said: “We welcome this substantial package of measures from which councils can choose, depending on local circumstance.

“Responding to COVID-19 whilst continuing to deliver essential, everyday services has put extreme pressure on Local Government finances this year. The pandemic has also meant substantial losses of income across a range of council services including leisure, sport, culture, and planning.

“Balancing budgets will be a real challenge and this has been fully recognised by Scottish Government who we have worked with constructively and positively.”

Committees unite to scrutinise UK Government coranvirus response

Westminster’s Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee  have today launched a joint inquiry into lessons to be learned from the response to the coronavirus pandemic so far.

Scope of the inquiry

The two Select Committees will jointly conduct evidence sessions examining the impact and effectiveness of action taken by government and the advice it has received. Each Committee will draw on specialist expertise and call witnesses to consider a range of issues including:

  • the deployment of non-pharmaceutical interventions like lockdown and social distancing rules to manage the pandemic;
  • the impact on the social care sector;
  • the impact on BAME communities;
  • testing and contact tracing;
  • modelling and the use of statistics;
  • Government communications and public health messaging;
  • the UK’s prior preparedness for a pandemic; and
  • the development of treatments and vaccines.

Joint Inquiry Chairs Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP issued the following statement:

“Parliament has a crucial role in scrutinising the actions of government at a time when the country is in the grip of a crisis such as the current pandemic with its tragic impact on lives and livelihoods.

“Important lessons need to be learned that can help inform further decisions that will need to be taken in the months ahead. It is crucial to learn and apply them now since the Public Inquiry that the Prime Minister has promised is likely to be some time away.

“Our committees will jointly learn what went well, what didn’t, and what lessons must be learnt at this point in the pandemic.

“We will use the independence of our cross-party committees and weekly detailed questioning of witnesses to consider the decisions taken and the evidence they were based on and assess their effectiveness. We will develop clear recommendations so that the UK can benefit from the lessons learned for future stages of this pandemic and for future crises.”

Latest plan to stop COVID spread

Temporary steps announced to tackle record infection rates.

Further measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) are to come into effect tomorrow as Scotland recorded more than 1,000 new positive test results in a single day.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told parliament yesterday that actions are needed now to prevent a return to the peak level of infections experienced in spring by the end of this month.

She said: “While there are significant restrictions still in place – and they are hard and painful – we are living much more freely now than in the spring and early summer.

“We are determined – if at all possible – that this will continue to be the case. We are not going back into lockdown today. We are not closing schools. We are not halting the remobilisation of the NHS for non-Covid care. And we are not asking people to stay at home.

“The need for action is highlighted by today’s figures and, more fundamentally, in the evidence paper published today. To try to interrupt this trajectory, we must act now. While the measures will feel like a backward step, they are in the interests of protecting our progress overall.

“It is by taking the tough but necessary action now that we hope to avoid even tougher action in future.”

The new restrictions, backed by a new £40 million support fund for business and the existing UK Job Retention Scheme, will be in place nationwide for 16 days, with tighter restrictions across central belt areas where the infection rate is highest.

Restrictions on licensed premises will come into force from 6pm tomorrow (Friday 9 October), with all other restrictions applying from 00:01 Saturday 10 October.

The new measures are:

Nationwide (excepting central belt areas):

  • Hospitality (food and drink): all premises may only open indoors between 6am and 6pm, with no sales of alcohol
  • Hospitality (food and drink): premises may open outdoors until 10pm, with sales of alcohol (where licensed)
  • Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
  • Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
  • Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply
  • Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol being served, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)

Central belt area focusing on five health board areas (Ayrshire & Arran; Forth Valley; Greater Glasgow & Clyde; Lanarkshire; Lothian):

  • All licensed premises will be required to close, with the exception of takeaway services
  • Cafés (unlicensed premises) which don’t have an alcohol licence will be able to open between 6am and 6pm
  • Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
  • Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
  • Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)
  • No group exercise classes for indoor gyms and sports courts, pools with an exemption for under 18s
  • No adult (18+) contact sports or training, except professional sports, indoor or outdoor
  • No outdoor live events
  • Snooker/pool halls, indoor bowling, casinos and bingo halls are to close
  • Public transport use should be minimised as much as possible, such as for education and work, where it cannot be done from home
  • Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply

Additionally, from this weekend, shops across Scotland are asked to return to two metres physical distancing and reintroduce the mitigations they put in place earlier in the pandemic, including one-way systems.

The challenge Scotland faces has also been set out in an evidence paper published today by senior clinical advisors: the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing Officer and the National Clinical Director. It shows the R number is currently higher in Scotland than in other UK nations and that three weeks after opening hospitality, the R number rose to 1 and above.

In the seven days up to Monday, the number of people in hospital with Covid increased by almost 80%. In the past week, cases in people over 80 years old increased by 60% and cases in the 60-79 year old age group more than doubled.

During the period these measures are in place, the Scottish Government will work with all sectors to review guidance in place to ensure all steps are being taken to minimise COVID-19 transmission and support compliance with regulations.

Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce has reacted to the announcement, which will decimate many of Scotland’s businesses – in particular, the hospitality sector which employs tens of thousands of people in Edinburgh.

In particular, businesses in the sector believe:

  • The evidence base on which the Government is making decisions which have such devastating impacts needs to be more robust and compelling. The Government’s own analysis is that 1 in 5 of those reporting infections have visited hospitality venues, and acknowledges that there is no evidence confirming where they acquired the virus
  • The First Minister acknowledges that the vast majority of hospitality businesses have spent scarce resources and significant time making their premises as safe as possible, yet still hospitality venues bear the brunt of restrictive measures
  • There has been NO genuine consultation with the sector on what measures are necessary and NO desire to seek any potential alternative solutions with businesses.

Joanne Davidson, Director of Policy at Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “Everyone in the country acknowledges the pandemic is a serious public health issue and we appreciate that Government has to make hard decisions in the current climate.

“However, it is an issue we need to tackle together, and that means involving businesses in the process. Taking decisions without recourse to those whose lives, businesses, employment and well-being are torn apart by these decisions is not the way to bring our country through this process successfully.

“Along with all of our colleagues in the Chamber network, we call on the Scottish Government to consult in a genuine way with business, to provide more robust data on which serious decisions are being based, and to seek solutions and meaningful engagement with the business community which minimise the impact and ensure adequate and appropriate financial support is made available to protect jobs and livelihoods.”

Federation of Small Businesses Scotland is warning that the mental health of small business owners and the self-employed has suffered during this pandemic.

FSB’s Andrew McRae said: “The vast majority of those in business want to be – and are – playing their part in tackling the crisis. But this year has taken its toll on the mental health of those that work for themselves, especially those that operate in certain sectors.

“Governments north and south of the border need to ensure there’s enough help on offer to see smaller firms through a crisis that’s not of their making. These local firms aren’t expendable, and care needs to be taken not to treat them as such.”

FSB offers a range of mental health support advice for members and the wider small business community.  

Devolved nations issue united call for financial action

Finance Ministers from across the devolved nations have joined forces to call for flexibility, fairness and clarity from the UK Government.

For the first time, all three finance ministers – Kate Forbes, Rebecca Evans and Conor Murphy –  today made co-ordinated statements in their respective legislatures.

The ministers are asking the UK Government for greater fiscal flexibility to manage the implications of coronavirus (COVID-19), meaningful involvement in the Spending Review to enable planning of budgets and an assurance that lost EU funding will be replaced in full and brought under the control of devolved administrations.

Finance Secretary Ms Forbes said: “Today the finance ministers of the devolved administrations are taking this unprecedented step to demonstrate the level of concern we share across the different nations of the UK, across different parties and across different legislatures.

“The importance of these issues cannot be overstated. They directly impact our ability to respond to COVID-19, to manage our nations’ finances and to support our communities and businesses during the pandemic.

“As representatives of our three nations, we are calling for the UK Government to provide the clarity, certainty and flexibility we require. These calls must not go unanswered.”

Ms Evans said: “I am focused on protecting the people of Wales from the worst impacts of the pandemic, while laying the foundations for recovery based on jobs, our young people and the environment.

“However, the Chancellor’s decision to cancel the UK autumn budget, alongside the uncertainty of the Spending Review and the complete lack of information on replacement EU funding, all contribute to making our task harder still.

“Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are today calling on the UK government to provide the fairness, flexibility and clarity we need to support and protect our communities and businesses.”

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr Murphy said: “As Finance Ministers we represent over 10 million people and today we speak with one voice. We are calling for more fiscal flexibility to manage the implications of COVID-19.

“We are calling for proper involvement in the Spending Review so we can plan our Budgets. We are also calling for lost EU funding to be replaced in full, and brought under local control.” 

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes’ statement to the Scottish Parliament is available online.