NICOLA Sturgeon has defended Scotland’s 10pm curfew after one of her MPs branded it a “completely arbitrary restriction”.
Allan Dorans backed a cross-party campaign criticising the lack of scientific evidence behind the decision to bring forward last orders.
The move came as both Scotland and the UK recorded their highest ever daily total of coronavirus cases.
There were 806 positive Covid tests recorded in Scotland yesterday, accounting for 11.5% of all those tested.
The UK as a whole recorded 7143 positive tests.
The First Minister said that about a third of yesterday’s cases were identified in the over-40 age group.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, she said: “It is the case that transmission among older age groups is also rising and let’s not pretend that that is not the case.”
NHS Grampian also disclosed that 62 University of Aberdeen students have tested positive.
Many had visited the Bobbin bar, next to the campus.
Dorans was one of a number of signatories to a letter organised by LibDem MP Daisy Cooper questioning the decision behind the 10pm curfew and calling for the UK Government to publish the “medical, scientific, and behavioural evidence for what appears to be a completely arbitrary restriction”.
In their letter, the MPs pointed out that the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had “not modelled the effect of this curfew, key members have openly stated that there is no evidence it will be effective and the behavioural science sub-group of Sage has not been consulted on the measures to consider the consequences of how people will react”.
The politicians also warned that industry experts believe the curfew “could have the unintended consequence of encouraging people to gather in less safe environments with none of the professionally applied Covid-secure measures that are put in place in venues”.
The letter – which has also been backed by Scottish LibDem MPs Alistair Carmichael, Christine Jardine and Jamie Stone – has been sent to Alok Sharma, the UK Government’s Business Secretary.
However, the curfew in Scotland was brought in by the Scottish Government.
Asked about the letter and the rationale for the curfew, Sturgeon said ministers tried to be “guided by what the evidence is telling us about transmission”.
She added: “What I’ve tried to do with the 10pm curfew is reduce the amount of time people are spending in hospitality, which will reduce, to some extent, the transmission risks within hospitality
“Had I the economic levers to mitigate the hospitality financial impact more than I do, we may have gone further on hospitality last week, and this is the frustration I increasingly have of not being able to match the public health drivers with the ability to take the economic measures that mitigate that impact.”
The First Minister said she was the “last person to underplay the importance of evidence and data and scientific advice” but said such research “only takes you so far”.
“It doesn’t ever give you the absolute answers,” she said.
She added that it often “comes down to decision makers, making judgments and those judgments, taking account of a lot of different factors”.
The First Minister added: “And fundamentally it also comes down to common sense. If you want to reduce transmission in hospitality, reduce the amount of time people are spending there.”
Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s clinical director, said Scotland was in “good company” with its
curfew.
He said other European countries were “taking a very similar view”.
“Some are going further, some are slightly later, some demographics are slightly different in slightly different countries, but, in the main, if countries are seeing increased transmission, they are closing hospitality more than they were.
“And that’s what we’re doing. I don’t have a spreadsheet that tells you 9.30pm would be better than 10pm or 10.30pm would be better than 10pm, because you just can’t get it at that granular level.”
In England, the Mayor of Greater Manchester has called for an
“urgent review” of the curfew amid fears it’s leading to mass gatherings after the pubs have closed..
“My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good,” Andy Burnham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think there needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country.”
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