NICOLA Sturgeon has slapped down a LibDem MSP after he claimed the Scottish Government’s coronavirus restrictions are “simply wrong”.
The First Minister announced nationwide restrictions on visiting other households and a 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants in a bid to curb a rising infection rate.
But North East representative Mike Rumbles took umbrage with the new rules during a Holyrood debate.
He asked: “Does the First Minister understand that forbidding people from visiting their family in other households like this cannot hold for long? And for the state to say that you cannot visit family at home but can meet in the pub is quite simply wrong?"
“No I don’t,” the SNP leader replied. “I think Mike Rumbles is probably on a different side of this debate about how we deal with Covid than I am. That’s fine, I suspect he’s much more of the libertarian, let people live normally and let it take its course ... I think that would be disastrous and fundamentally wrong.”
READ MORE: Nightclub bosses say First Minister's curfew plans 'simply don’t make sense'
After protestations from the LibDem, the First Minister apologised for being "intemperate", adding: “I didn’t mean to offend him in that way. I was being generalist and I shouldn’t have been. My apologies to him for that.”
She continued: “Let me get to the heart of this, it is a difficult balance to strike and I understand that.
“But we have to strike different balances. We have to protect people’s jobs as far as possible, particularly without the financial levers that would allow us to do more to mitigate that. And try as far as possible to suppress the spread.”
Sturgeon pointed out that people meeting up in houses was a key driver of transmission, and that different rules applied to pubs because the Scottish Government is able to put stricter regulations in place.
READ MORE: 'Staggeringly poor judgement': Anger as LibDem MSP went to Italy during lockdown
She concluded: “So these are not easy balances to strike, I get that, but we’re trying to do our best to get them as right as possible and protect people from a virus unfortunately that is infectious and dangerous.”
Last month, Rumbles was condemned for a “staggeringly poor judgement” after it was revealed he had spent eight weeks in Italy – while part of his North East Scotland constituency was forced back in lockdown.
The MSP stressed he has been working remotely, but apologised for missing a Holyrood committee meeting.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel