Deputy First Minister John Swinney has written to Council Leader Adam McVey to explain Tuesday’s controversial decision to keep Edinburgh in Level 3 of coronavirus restrictions.
The letter comes after Council Leaders reacted with ‘anger and dismay‘ to the news that the Capital would not be moving to Level 2, contrary to what had been anticipated and it follows a meeting between Mr Swinney and Cllr McVey on Tueday evening.
Fiirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon and National Clinical Director Jason Leitch also explained the rationale behind the decision during questions following yesterday’s daily media briefing.
In his letter, Mr Swinney says: ‘A move to Level 2 in Edinburgh would mean opening up significantly more services in our second biggest city in the two weeks before Christmas. So we wanted to have as much confidence as possible that the situation is as stable as possible before we make that move.
‘In that context, the recent rise in cases, while relatively slight, was a cause for concern when seen against the backdrop of a much slower reduction in cases and test positivity for Edinburgh over the last two weeks than for Scotland as a whole.
‘By the same token, while Scotland as a whole has seen declining test positivity, the test positivity for Edinburgh is rising. So, weighing the data in the wider context, we decided it was prudent to keep Edinburgh in Level 3 this week, monitor the position closely, and to review the level again next week.
Council Leader Adam McVey and Depute Leader Cammy Day had been pressing the case for Edinburgh’s restrictions to be eased, in recognition of the city’s relatively low COVID case numbers and the care taken by residents and businesses keeping to the rules.
Responding to the First Minister’s announcement on Tuesday, Council Leader Adam McVey said: I’m extremely disappointed. Our numbers are stable and have now been consistently within the rates of level two for some time.
“We know what a dire situation local businesses continue to face and the latest news will be yet another blow in the lead-up to the Christmas period – which should be their busiest time of the year. I’ve been strongly pressing for Edinburgh’s case to move to a lower level of restrictions when safe to do so. The data suggest that time should have been now.
“It’s thanks to everyone following the guidance that our numbers have fallen and it’s why the Capital’s expectation was rightly that we would be moving to level two. I’ve asked to meet the Government as a matter of urgency to ensure they give a full explanation to the people of Edinburgh of the public health advice that they have based their decision on. I’ll also be pressing the case for additional financial support for our businesses who will need additional help following this decision.
“Despite this situation we need to continue to do everything we can over the coming week to continue to make progress – that means following the guidance, maintaining social distancing and washing hands and using sanitiser regularly.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “This is an outrage and slap in the face for the many businesses, individuals and families who have so carefully stuck to restrictions over the winter so far, suffering significant losses and missing out on seeing one another over the festive period.
“It’s down to them that our cases per 100,000 are lower than many areas around the country, including some already in level two, so we completely understand those who are questioning today’s decision to retain the current restrictions in Edinburgh.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure this is recognised by the Scottish Government, and will be calling for them to reconsider and reverse their decision.”
Councillors will debate an Emergency Motion by the ‘Capital Coalition’ at today’s Full Council meeting, calling on Council to agree to continue to lobby the Scottish Government and “insist the government follow scientific evidence and advice” that indicate that Edinburgh has been consistently in Level 2.
It’s expected that Edinburgh will move to Level 2 when restrictions are reviewed next week.
MSPs are to forgo a pay increase next year, it has been announced.
In a message to MSPs Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh MSP said that, in the midst of a public health crisis with such devastating economic consequences and hardship for so many, now more than ever was the time for political leadership on Members’ pay.
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), chaired by the Presiding Officer, agreed unanimously (on 3 December) that no uplift will be presented in the SPCB’s budget bid for next year with regard to Members and Ministerial salaries.
The full text of the Presiding Officer’s message to all MSPs is as follows:
Dear Colleagues
MSP pay: financial year 2021/22
Later this month, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will present its budget bid for 2021/22 to the Finance and Constitution Committee for its scrutiny.
As ever, it is the duty of the SPCB to make provision for the resources and services that Parliament needs to function. Within its annual budget bid, the SPCB is required to make provision for the salaries of all Members and Ministers.
You will no doubt recall that in the previous session of Parliament, Members voted to break the pay link between MPs and MSPs salaries. Instead of receiving 87.5% of MPs’ salaries, we voted to link our future pay increases to those of public sectors workers in Scotland, using the ASHE index.
Last year, the ASHE index applied to our salaries stood at 1.4%. This year the corresponding rate is 5.1%.
In the midst of a public health crisis with such devastating economic consequences and hardship for so many households, the SPCB unanimously agreed yesterday, that it would be wholly inappropriate for the ASHE index to be applied to MSP and Ministerial salaries next year.
Instead, the SPCB agreed that Members, Ministers and Presiding Officers will forgo a pay rise and that our budget bid to the Finance and Constitution Committee will freeze the current salary rates for Members.
These are exceptional circumstances and no other decision would have been appropriate or welcome at this time – either inside or outwith Parliament. Now more than ever is a time for political leadership where our own salaries are concerned.
I am grateful to each of the members of the SPCB for their collaboration on this matter and in agreeing the budget bid that will be made to the Finance and Constitution Committee later this month.
Lothian MSP Miles Briggs, who is Co-convenor of the Cancer Cross Party Group at the Scottish Parliament, has submitted a motion at the Parliament calling on the Scottish Government to consider prioritising people receiving palliative care and their immediate families in the forthcoming rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
The motion acknowledged the immense strain that the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary public health response have placed on many people with pre-existing medical conditions, especially people diagnosed with a terminal illness and who are receiving palliative care.
Prioritising people who have a terminal illness for a Covid-19 vaccine would allow them to live life as fully as possible with family and friends in the limited time they have left.
The motion also urged the Scottish Government to consider allowing clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members whose need for vaccination is deemed to be most urgent where it is clinically safe and appropriate to do so.
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said:“The arrival of a vaccine for Covid-19 is what we have all been waiting for and means that Scotland can start recovering from this cruel virus.
“With the rollout out of the vaccine to start next week, the Scottish Government is now facing the difficult decisions of who should get the vaccine first.
“My motion at the Scottish Parliament, has called on Ministers to allows clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members, so that the people diagnosed with a terminal illness can see their families and loved ones in the limited time they have left.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave this statement at last night’s coronavirus conference from Downing Street:
It is almost a year since humanity has been tormented by COVID. Across the world, economic output has plummeted and a million and a half people have died.
And all the time we have waiting and hoping for the day when the searchlights of science would pick out our invisible enemy and give us the power to stop that enemy from making us ill – and now the scientists have done it.
And they have used the virus itself to perform a kind of biological jiu-jitsu, to turn the virus on itself in the form of a vaccine from an idea that was pioneered in this country by Edward Jenner in 1796.
And today we can announce that the government has accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for distribution across the United Kingdom.
After months of clinical trials, involving thousands of people to ensure that the vaccine meets the strictest, internationally recognised, standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
Thanks to the fantastic work of Kate Bingham and the Vaccines Task Force, we purchased more than 350 million doses of seven different vaccine candidates, and the UK was the first country in the world to pre-order supplies of this Pfizer vaccine securing 40 million doses.
Through our Winter Plan, the NHS has been preparing for the biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK and that is going to begin next week.
And in line with the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation the first phase will include care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
But there are immense logistical challenges: the vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees and each person needs two injections, three weeks apart.
So it will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected, long and cold months. So it is all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement we are not carried away with over optimism – or fall into the naïve belief that the struggle is over.
Its not, we’ve got to stick to our Winter Plan, a comprehensive programme to suppress the virus, protect the NHS and the vulnerable, keep education and the economy going and use treatments, testing and vaccines to enable us to return to much closer to normal by spring.
Today in England we have ended national restrictions, opening up significant parts of the economy in doing so but also replacing them with tough tiers to keep this virus down.
And I know that those tiers will mean continued hardship for many, and it is going to continue to be tough for some sectors but until the vaccine is deployed, our plan does rely on all of us continuing to make sacrifices to protect those we love.
So please, please continue to follow the rules where you live, remember hands, face, space – and if you live in a tier 3 area where community testing will be made available, please take part in that community testing.
Together, these steps are for now the surest way to protect yourselves and those you love and by reducing the transmission of the virus, help de-escalate your area to a lower level of restrictions, as vaccines and testing, as I say, take an ever larger share of the burden.
And as we do all this, we are no longer resting on the mere hope that we can return to normal next year in the spring, but rather on the sure and certain knowledge that we will succeed: and together reclaim our lives and all the things about our lives that we love
So I want to thank the scientists and all those around the world who have taken part in the trials and got us to this stage.
‘TODAY IS GENUINELY A GOOD DAY’
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the news at her daily media briefing from St Andrew’s House yesterday:
I want to warmly welcome the news that the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, has been authorised for supply in the UK, by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
This is not unexpected. But even so, because it confirms that a safe and effective vaccine can now be used, it is perhaps the best news than any of us have heard about the virus since the pandemic began all these months ago.
Today is genuinely a good day, we’re not at the end of this pandemic yet and of course we cannot and must not ease up in our efforts to control it, but today feels like it may well be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience. And for that reason I am sure I am far for the only one this morning who feels a lightness of heart that I haven felt in quite some time
We expect vaccines to be delivered over the course of December. And we expect that that will start to happen in the next few days.
And – if we receive the first doses of vaccine as soon as we are expecting to and there is no reason right now to doubt that – I can confirm that the first vaccines against Covid will start to be administered in Scotland on Tuesday 8 December.
That is just six days from now. So to reiterate – the first vaccines against Covid will be administered in Scotland on Tuesday 8 December.
It is of course worth remembering that everyone will require two doses of the vaccine, and that these are likely to be offered 21-28 days apart – so it is unlikely that anyone’s vaccination will be completed until early next year. But there is no doubt that being able to have this degree of confidence that we can start a vaccination programme next week is absolutely fantastic news.
We will start by vaccinating the people who will be vaccinating everyone else. We will then follow the independent advice we have received from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
They have recommended prioritising those with the greatest clinical need – including older residents in care homes, health and social care workers, and those aged over 80. Those groups will therefore be the first people we seek to vaccinate.
The authorisation which was issued today has some conditions which its important to be clear about, will make the Pfizer vaccine quite difficult to transport to some locations – especially individual houses. We are therefore in the process of planning how we can ensure that all people in priority groups can be vaccinated.
Overall, however, the high probability that vaccinations will start next week is welcome, and much-needed, good news for us all.
For all the difficulties that undoubtedly lie ahead, it should give us all real hope that the end of the pandemic for Scotland is in sight.
And it should also motivate us and I’ll come back to this point at the end, to do everything we can between now and then to keep ourselves and each other safe, including of course over the upcoming Christmas period.
“PROGRESSIVE VISION TO TACKLE POVERTY IN THE FACE OF TORY CUTS”
SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has welcomed the announcement that every primary school pupil in Edinburgh will be eligible for free school meals, all year around, if the SNP is re-elected in May.
Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, set out this latest step in the drive to tackle child poverty and make Scotland the first nation in the UK to offer universal free primary school meals at the SNP annual conference at the weekend.
The SNP previously extended eligibility for a free school lunch to all P1 to P3 pupils while P4 to P7 pupils are eligible based on a range of income and benefits criteria.
Now, in the face of predictions that Westminster cuts will drive child poverty rates even higher, the expansion – estimated to cost around £230 million per year in additional expenditure – will introduce a free year-round breakfast and lunch for all primary school pupils from August 2022.
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has put real financial pressure on families, and it’s right that the Scottish Government ensured that children in Edinburgh would continue to receive free school meals over the holidays.
“But I am happy that we are not stopping there. If the SNP is re-elected in May, every single primary school pupil in Edinburghwill be eligible for free breakfast and lunch, all year round.
“And unlike the Tories, we didn’t have to be publicly shamed and condemned into choosing to feed hungry children – that is the basic duty of any government.
“This ambitious expansion of the free school meals scheme is the next step in our battle to stop the Tories forcing more and more kids into poverty, support families, and make Scotland the best place to grow up.
“That progressive vision, underpinned by human rights, equality and wellbeing, is exactly why people in Scotland continue to put their faith in the SNP.”
The Council has published its response to the recent Scottish Government consultation on short term lets. It welcomes the announcement that draft legislation on proposals is expected to be considered by Parliament next month.
The report, which will be considered by councillors at Tuesday’s Policy and Sustainability Committee (1 December), broadly welcomes the Scottish Government’s approach to a new licensing regime and planning control areas and outlines what is required to happen next to allow the Council to implement both licensing and planning controls after the new legislation comes into force next spring.
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Earlier this year I wholeheartedly welcomed the Scottish Government announcement that our call for a new regulatory scheme had been successful. Since then there has been a consultation on proposals and the government has confirmed a draft will be considered by Parliament in December with new legislation being brought in next spring. All of this progress has been in direct response to our hard work in pushing for the powers we know we need to deliver for our communities.
“We’re seeking some clarification on some technical issues regarding implementation and are still working on how these powers can help us control the number of short term lets in the city through a combination of planning and licensing policies.
“We’re pleased that, through new short term let control areas, we’ll be able to control the number of short term lets in the city as properties being let out in these areas would automatically require to have ‘change of use’ planning permission in place.
“It’s also good news that when people apply for a licence we can ask for evidence that they have that permission. This is something we’re very keen to do and our ‘Choices’ consultation for our next local development plan – ‘City Plan 2030’ – showed overwhelming support for control zones.
Depute Leader Cammy Day added: “Great progress is being made to tackle this issue we have campaigned so hard to address. This is so important as short term lets have reduced the city’s housing stock, hollowed out communities and caused numerous issues for residents such as noise and other anti-social behaviour.
“It’s important though that we manage expectations just now as there’s still a lot of work to be done when the legislation is approved later this year to implement the right licensing regime and planning controls for Edinburgh.
“I look forward to the draft legislation going before Parliament in December and legislation becoming a reality in April so we can use the new legislation to improve the lives of many of our residents throughout the city.”
Further information:
The Scottish Government proposes that the licensing system be delivered by local authorities but the regulations will specify a minimum licensing scheme which will be mandatory. Local authorities will have the power to introduce licensing conditions from a specified list of options to address local issues of concern.
The Scottish Government’s proposals would not allow the licensing system to control the numbers of short-term let properties by imposing a cap or limit.
Rather, it is the short term lets control area that would be used to manage high concentration of short-term let properties.
The proposed regulations would allow planning authorities to designate all or part(s) of their area as a control area.
Within such a designated area, the use of a dwelling house for secondary letting will always be deemed to involve a material change of use and requires planning permission.
This is consistent with the Council’s desire to have a method of managing high locational concentrations of short-term let properties and clarifying the planning process for such changes of use to bring a simpler approach.
The proposals also address a key Council principle about ensuring a joined-up Planning and Licensing approach by including a mandatory condition for licence applications which would require the host to confirm that they have applied for, or obtained planning permission (if required), that it remains current and that they are complying with any planning conditions.
Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House on Wednesday 25 November:
Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. I will give you today’s statistics first of all as usual.
There were 880 positive cases reported yesterday which is 6.8% of the total number of tests that were carried out. That means the total number of confirmed cases so far throughout the entire pandemic is 90,961.
260 of the new cases were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 190 in Lanarkshire, 122 in Grampian and 94 in Lothian.
The remaining cases were across 8 other health board areas. 1,161 people are currently in hospital – that is 36 fewer than yesterday. 84 people are in intensive care, that’s the same as yesterday.
And finally, I regret to report that 44 additional deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours of patients who first tested positive in the previous 28 day period. The total number of deaths under this measurement that we use on a daily basis is now 3,588.
However, National Records of Scotland, as it does every Wednesday, has just published its weekly update, that you will recall includes cases where COVID is a suspected or contributory cause of death in addition to those that we report daily where COVID has been confirmed through a test.
Today’s update shows that by Sunday just past, the total number of registered deaths linked to COVID under that wider definition, was 5,380.
244 of those deaths were registered over the course of the last week, that is actually 35 fewer than in the week before.
And that is the first decrease in the weekly number of deaths that we have seen since the end of September. Any reduction in the number of people dying is of course good news, but any feeling of relief that we feel about that must be tempered by a recognition that the number of deaths is still far too high.
160 of last week’s deaths occurred in hospitals, 67 occurred in care homes, and 17 at home or in another non-institutional setting.
Now every single one of those deaths was of an individual who will be right now mourned by friends and family. So again today, as it is important to do every day, I want to convey my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one as a result of this virus.
Now I have a couple of issues I want to cover today before I, with Professor Leitch, will take questions from the media.
The first is that literally as we will be speaking here today the Chancellor of the Exchequer will, in the House of Commons, be delivering his autumn statement.
Over the course of this pandemic, the Scottish Government and the UK Government have worked together constructively on many issues and I will come on to talk about arrangements for the Christmas period in a moment and that is one of those issues.
But we have also welcomed several of the Chancellor’s recent decisions; for example the extension of the Job Retention Scheme until the spring.
But we do believe there are several areas where families and businesses are likely, as a result of the pandemic, to continue to need help even after April of next year and that’s when many of the current support mechanisms are scheduled to end.
Now the kind of areas I am talking about would include rates relief for businesses, and the uplift to universal credit for households and individuals.
So we are very much hoping that today’s statement brings clarity and positive news on these issues.
That would be very important in providing certainty as all of us continue to cope with the immediate impact of COVID. And of course it would provide the Scottish Government with greater clarity as we prepare our own budget which will be presented to the Scottish Parliament in January – and that budget will provide more details of the support we are able to provide for businesses and individuals into the next financial year so the more clarity we have from the Chancellor about the overall spending envelope would be very welcome.
Now the second issue I want to cover and perhaps take a few moments to dwell on today is yesterday’s announcement about arrangements for the forthcoming Festive period.
Let me tell you that the Scottish Government will be publishing more detailed guidance fleshing out what we said yesterday, we will do that later this week, hopefully tomorrow (Thursday), and I will set out some further details in Parliament ahead of the weekly session of First Minister’s questions.
The festive period will be different for us all this year.
Watch our video on the changes we’re making to address isolation and loneliness ⬇️
Remember, just because you will be able to meet people indoors doesn’t mean you have to.
However as you will undoubtedly have heard yesterday the four UK nations decided that for a five day window over Christmas – that means from 23 December to 27 December inclusive – we will relax slightly the current rules on travel and household meetings.
This relaxation will enable you – if you feel it is necessary and that is a point I want to stress and I will come back to that point shortly – if you feel it is necessary the relaxation will enable you to form a bubble of up to three households over that five day period.
Now let me stress, if you choose to do that, it has to be just one bubble. You can’t chop and change it over the 5 day period. And none of the households in a bubble can form another bubble with other households.
Now, as is the case with most of these COVID decisions, some of you will think this a reasonable decision that we have arrived at, others of you will think it doesn’t go far enough, and many of you will think it is a terrible decision and it goes way too far and my email inbox has all of these views expressed within it today.
But I think that just reflects a reality that none of what we are dealing with right now, none of what we are seeking to steer and navigate our way through, is straightforward. And speaking as First Minister, as head of the Scottish Government, we agonise over all of these decisions and often we are trying to balance all sorts of different factors and come to, not a perfect outcome, because in a pandemic I am not sure there is such a thing, but come to the outcome that balances best all of these competing factors and desires that people have.
And on this particular occasion what we are trying to do is reflect a reality that for some people, whether I like it or not, sticking rigidly to the current rules over Christmas – if that means, for example, leaving loved ones on their own – is something that some people might not be prepared to do.
So rather than just leave everyone to try navigate that themselves and decide their own boundaries, we came to a decision to try to set out some outer limits and some boundaries that we are asking people to work within.
But and this is the key point. Notwithstanding that decision which is trying to recognise a reality that I have just set out, that does not mean that we are positively encouraging people to get together.
I want to stress today that just because we are allowing people to create a bubble it does not mean you have to do it. And, if you do choose to do it at all you don’t have to do it the maximum permitted.
We are relying on people, as we have been throughout this entire pandemic, but maybe particularly over these next few weeks, we are relying on people across the country, to make informed choices about whether or not to come together at all over the Christmas period.
We recognise that for many people, supporting others and their families by being with them, will be something that they feel is essential. But for others, it won’t be essential, and you might choose this year therefore to mark Christmas very differently to how you normally would.
Because the virus will not have gone away by Christmas and it is really important that I am very straight with you about that and we know bringing people together at home, carries risk.
That is why we are asking people not to meet in each other’s homes right now. And of course after 8 months of very hard and very painful sacrifice, of keeping loved ones as safe as possible, and now that we are so close to a possible vaccine, we all have to ask ourselves if that is a risk we personally want to take.
So as I say we will produce guidance to help you come to these decisions and to minimise risks for those of you who do choose to come together albeit in a limited way over the Christmas period.
As I said before we will set out more detail tomorrow. But let me repeat some key points which you will no doubt hear me reiterate over the weeks between now and Christmas.
The first point is this. If you can get through this Christmas staying in your own home, within your own household, please do so. That would be the safest decision and that I guess is the default advice that I am giving to people.
However, If you feel you need to see somebody from another household, please limit that as much as possible.
Remember what I said about the five days, three households. That is the outer limits. That should be seen as a maximum. Stay as far within that as you possibly can.
And if you feel it is essential to see others, think about how you do that think about whether you could do that differently to how most of us traditionally celebrate Christmas, particularly Christmas Day.
So for example and I know this is something I am thinking in my own personal circumstances, instead of meeting indoors for Christmas go for a family walk together, exchange presents on the way, see each other outside. All of this sounds difficult and strange, but we are living in difficult and strange times.
And of course if you are indoors with people from other households during this limited window, keep the literal windows open. Follow all the hygiene rules. It will be difficult to remember that I know, but wash your hands, clean the hard surfaces in the house that you are in and keep a physical distance as much as you can.
That will be the hardest thing of all if you are with loved ones. Not hugging them. And trying to keep apart, but it is really important we all remember and don’t allow to go by the wayside these really important rules we have been living by.
The fact that I am stressing all of this, despite the announcement we have made yesterday, underlines that yesterday’s decision was not an easy one in fact it was a really difficult one I am sure for all of the governments involved.
We know that the festive period means a lot to people, it means a lot to us as well as individuals, and we know in particular it can be an especially difficult time to be alone or to feel isolated.
Because of that, many people – in seeking to do the right thing over Christmas – will come to the view that for them that means spending some time with friends and loved ones.
And it is for that reason that we have decided to provide some rules and guidance that will minimise the risks of that. But these rules, if you exercise the flexibility they give you, still have a risk attached to them.
We know that people can be infectious without having symptoms of COVID, so all of us find it really hard to fathom and believe and comprehend that it might be our family gathering that is the one that has a risk attached to it. But it may well be, particularly if you are bringing together people in different generations that risk to vulnerable people can be great and that is exacerbated indoors.
So all of this is difficult. Governments agonise over these decisions and I am sure families will be coming to very difficult decisions as well. We are trying to give a framework in which we can all reach these decisions, but I will continue to ask you to err on the side of caution, to think about the safety of loved ones and not to forget how close we may now be to an end of this pandemic and if you have been making painful sacrifices for eight months to keep those you love safe then think about whether you want to take a risk with their safety at this eleventh hour in this horrible journey that we are all going through.
And one final point I want to stress before moving on to questions is this one.
While we are all thinking about Christmas as is inevitably the case as we get towards December Christmas is still four weeks away and the most important thing we can all do right now – to make not just Christmas as safe as possible but the period after Christmas as safe as possible – is to reduce the number of people that are infectious now and for all of us that means sticking to all of the rules and guidance that is in place right now.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a Spending Review ‘for the whole of the UK’ as he laid out plans to help every corner of Scotland to build back better and fight coronavirus.
The Chancellor announced that Scotland will receive £2.4bn of new funding from the UK Government in 2021/22 through the Barnett formula for devolved areas such as health and social care, education and housing.
This is double the £1.2bn new funding provided for 2020/21 at the 2019 Spending Round.
It is also in addition to the £8.2bn guaranteed to the Scottish Government in 2020/21, above the funding allocated at the Spring Budget earlier this year, in the face of the coronavirus and its impact on the economy.
Scotland will also receive a significant boost from more than £100bn of capital investment across the UK in 2021/22, improving connectivity and productivity.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said: This Spending Review will help people in every corner of Scotland. It will provide billions of pounds to fight coronavirus, deliver the peoples’ priorities and drive the UK’s recovery.
“The Treasury is, has been, and will always be the Treasury for the whole of the United Kingdom. And this is a Spending Review for the whole of the United Kingdom”.
Speaking after the Chancellor delivered the UK Government’s Spending Review, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “The UK Government’s Spending Review delivers for all parts of the UK at this challenging time. Never before has the strength of the Union, and the role of the UK Treasury, been more important.
“The UK Government pledged to bring funding decisions back from Brussels, and our plans for a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund will deliver on this promise. Communities across the UK have been hit hard by Covid, so I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement today of £220 million in additional funding in the coming financial year. This will be delivered by the UK Government across the UK, working in partnership with local authorities and communities.
“We made a commitment to maintain funding for our vital rural and coastal communities and are fulfilling that through £570 million to support farmers and our rural economy, and £14 million to support Scottish fisheries. Additional funding for broadband will help boost the economies of some of Scotland’s most remote communities.
“Accelerating the Tay, Moray, Borderlands and Islands growth deals is great news. It will help support jobs and drive economic recovery across swathes of Scotland.
“The new UK Infrastructure Bank will help support our post-covid economic recovery. A billion pounds for our net zero climate change target will ensure the UK remains a world leader in climate action, ahead of us bringing the world to Glasgow for COP26 next year. And the new counter-terrorism operations centre will help keep people in all parts of the UK safe from global threats.
“The Scottish Government will receive an additional £2.4 billion in Barnett Consequentials. This is over and above the £8.2 billion they have already been allocated since March this year. This additional funding will help support jobs and public services in Scotland while we fight the pandemic.
“The UK Government will continue to do all it can to support people in all parts of the United Kingdom.”
The Chancellor used the Spending Review to reaffirm his commitment to growth across Scotland – announcing an £11m acceleration of City and Growth Deal funding over each year remaining in four Scotland Deals.
Tay Cities, Borderlands (Scotland), Moray and the Scottish Islands will be funded over 10 years, rather than 15 years, releasing funding more quickly to enable projects to come online sooner.
By bringing forward the investment, Tay Cities will receive an additional £6.3m each year, Borderlands (Scotland) an extra £2.1m, Moray an extra £1.1m and the Scottish Islands an additional £1.7m.
Projects announced today include the Gigabit and Shared Rural Network programmes for better mobile coverage.
The Gigabit programme subsidises the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband in the most difficult to reach 20% of the UK, while the Shared Rural Network programme is a partnership with industry that will deliver high-quality 4G mobile coverage across 95% of the UK by 2025.
Investment in new green industries will support green growth clusters, offshore wind capacity, port infrastructure, Carbon Capture and Storage and low carbon hydrogen.
The global underwater hub, funded by £1.3m announced at today’s Spending Review, will eventually comprise of physical presences in the existing underwater engineering cluster in North East Scotland.
Separately, institutions and companies in Scotland will also be able to access a £14.6bn UK-wide research and development fund.
The Government today confirmed funding for the next stage of the Plan for Jobs – including £1.6bn for the landmark Kickstart scheme in 2021/22, which will see the creation of up to 250,000 government-subsidised jobs for young people.
The apprenticeship hiring incentive that launched in August will also be extended to 31 March 2021, offering employers up to £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire.
Investment from EU Structural Funds is increasing in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 21-22 compared to this financial year.
The Spending Review provides additional UK funding to help local areas prepare over 2021-22 for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Further details will be published in the New Year.
The UK Government has delivered on its manifesto commitment to maintain funding by providing £570m to support farmers, land managers and the rural economy, and £14m to support fisheries in Scotland.
The Government committed to boost local economies by establishing at least one Freeport in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with locations to be jointly decided by the UK Government and the devolved administrations.
And on the cultural front the Government announced £29.1m for Festival UK with projects expected across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The UK Government’s recent announcement of record spending on defence will also directly benefit Scotland as it finances the UK’s order of 8 Type 26 and 5 Type 31 frigates, which are currently being constructed on the Clyde, creating thousands of jobs.
At this Spending Review Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will benefit from UK-wide coronavirus support in health, including £15bn for Test and Trace with Barnett funding provided for England-only elements of the programme.
RESPONSES
Responding to Rishi Sunak’s Spending Review, Roz Foyer, STUC General Secretary, said: “This Spending Review is a kick in the teeth to those very same workers Rishi Sunak was clapping months ago.
“Despite thousands of workers in the private sector surviving on furlough pay at 80%, Rishi Sunak choose to attack public sector pay. This is a levelling down agenda, not a levelling up one.
“Very few people will be fooled by his attempts to pit care workers against shop workers or low paid council workers against low paid cleaners. All need a decent pay increase, and they all need it now. If the Chancellor wants to equalise public sector and private sector pay, he should have ensured that workers cannot be furloughed on less than the minimum wage and increased the minimum wage to at least £10 per hour. 18 pence on the minimum wage is pennies, when we need pounds.
“£250 for lower paid public sector workers is the exact same policy introduced by George Osborne in 2010 and still amounts to a pay cut for many.”
Ms Foyer also criticised other funding announcements: “This was the moment to announce a massive fiscal stimulus to drive a green recovery and the Chancellor totally missed it.
“While we await details for the new National Infrastructure Bank and funding for the devolved administrations, the figures announced come nowhere near the amount needed.
“Moreover, instead of devolving funding and power to local communities, the Levelling Up Fund centralises control in Whitehall and enables the Treasury to pick and choose which pet projects it will support.
“Cutting international development funding to 0.5% of GDP shows that for all its talk of global Britain, this Government doesn’t really care for world’s most vulnerable.
“The Chancellor’s statement also did nothing to address the gaping holes in our social safety net. With unemployment likely to rise to 7.6% next year, the Government must commit, as a minimum, to continuing the £20 uplift in Universal Credit so people can weather that storm while they look for work.
“Workers in Scotland know that key workers deserve a pay rise. They will see through Rishi Sunak’s con trick.”
Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive of Local Government Information Unit Scotland,said: “Scotland now knows the amount of the block grant that it will receive. Those parts of the Spending Review that apply to Scotland show that the UK Government is not learning the lessons of the pandemic and that they remain wedded to an over-centralised approach.
“Many will be struck by what was absent from Mr Sunak’s statement. For Scottish local government, it’s the big picture that matters as they wait to hear what Scottish Government allocations will be as each council decides on their budget priorities. How will the Shared Prosperity Fund be allocated? How will the impact of Brexit on local economies be mitigated? On these issues we have learnt nothing.
“When it comes to infrastructure, the centralising tendency of the British state was on full display today. The £4 bn levelling up fund is to be administered by the Treasury, MHCLG and Department for Transport. Local areas will bid against each other and Whitehall will pick the winners. Proposals must have the support of their MP, but local government once again doesn’t seem to be part of the picture.”
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “The chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered a body blow to the public sector workers he has targeted to bear the brunt of the costs of the pandemic with a pay freeze – his so-called ‘pause’.
“It is doubly disappointing that the chancellor has adopted ‘divide and rule’ tactics over public sector pay with an award for NHS staff, but a freeze on pay for millions of others, such as teaching assistants, who are already low paid.
“The sop of £250 to the two million public sector workers earning under £24,000-a-year is insulting and compares badly with the inflated sums that the government has wasted on PPE contracts for those with links to the Tory establishment.
“This mainly female workforce already juggle work commitments, childcare responsibilities and care for elderly relatives yet kept vital services running throughout the pandemic, at times due to government failures in PPE provision, risking their own health in the service of others.
“It is also a blow to local economies and high streets where public sector workers spend a large proportion of their wages.
“The prime minister’s ‘levelling up’ agenda is in tatters as a result of the chancellor’s divisive pay announcement which does nothing to restore the ‘lost’ pay in real terms from a decade of austerity.”
Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities said:“The Chancellor’s ambition to level up the country is welcome, as is the clarity on infrastructure in the national strategy.
“But for levelling up to succeed, it needs to be about more than infrastructure and one-off funds. We need to see sustained, multi-year investment and decisions like those announced by the Chancellor today – on skills, transport and housing – devolved and joined up at a local level.”
The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has urged the UK Government to provide £5 million in extra funding to support those struggling to afford sufficient food this winter.
This echoes a call made earlier this year by the Committee in its report on Covid-19 and Food Supply. In a letter from the Committee’s Chair to the Secretary of State, the cross-party group of MPs show support for a FareShare scheme which redistributes surplus food from the supply chain to food charities.
FareShare estimates that the scheme would provide 47 million meals per year to the most vulnerable in society.
Chair of the EFRA Select Committee, Neil Parish MP, said: “We face a tough winter with many businesses closing and incomes reducing or disappearing, pushing people into food poverty.
“The Government must make sure that the most vulnerable members of society have access to enough healthy food. To waste food in the supply chain at such a time would be abhorrent, and this grant would provide a huge boost to the invaluable work of charities redistributing surplus food to those who most need it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge G20 leaders to take more ambitious action to defeat the pandemic and address climate change, as he attends a virtual summit this weekend.
Hosted by Saudi Arabia, the G20 Summit will bring together world leaders for two days of discussions on how to drive the global recovery from coronavirus and build back better.
At a session on ‘Overcoming the Pandemic and Restoring Growth and Jobs’ today [Saturday 21st], Boris Johnson will note the UK’s commitment to equitable global access for coronavirus vaccines and encourage others to step up and support the COVAX initiative, to ensure developing countries are not frozen out of the race for a vaccine.
On Sunday [22nd], he will welcome recent Net Zero commitments from a number of G20 countries at a session on ‘Building an Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Future’, and call on others to make the same pledge. Ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit co-hosted by the UK on December 12th, the Prime Minister will warn that we risk failing future generations if states do not take bold steps to reduce their emissions.
Speaking ahead of the G20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The G20 committed in March to do ‘whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic and protect lives and livelihoods’. As we meet this weekend, we must hold ourselves to account for that promise.
“If we harness the collective ingenuity and resources of the G20, we can chart a path out of the pandemic and build a better, greener future.”
The Prime Minister is attending the G20 remotely from Downing Street on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd November. Both sessions are expected to take place in the afternoon.
