FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she can see “no reason” why the Scottish Parliament election due to take place in May should not go ahead.
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme today, she sid: “I see no reason at this stage why the election wouldn’t go ahead.
“I think everybody would agree it’s really important that our democratic processes continue and that elections happen.
“There have been elections in many other countries over the course of the pandemic.”
READ MORE: 'Devastating' Covid restrictions dawn as Scotland enters lockdown 2.0
She added that the Parliament has recently passed contingency legislation setting out alternative options for the election, but any changes will be agreed on a cross-party basis with the presiding officer.
The First Minister was speaking to the programme as tough new stay at home restrictions came into effect.
To slow the spread of the virus people must stay at home unless for an essential purpose like food shopping, accessing medical services or caring for a vulnerable person.
She said it may be possible to lift the latest Covid-19 restrictions if the vaccination programme manages to push ahead of the virus in the “race” over the coming months.
She said the health service hopes to vaccinate everyone on the priority list – some 2.7 million people – by early May.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme, she said it is difficult to be definitive about when the restrictions will be lifted.
READ MORE: More businesses required to close as Scotland tightens Covid lockdown
“I described it yesterday as a race: we’ve got the vaccines in one lane – we’re trying to accelerate that.
“We’ve got the virus, which has just learned to run faster, in the other lane, and we’ve got to slow it down.”
She continued: “Lockdown is about trying to slow down the virus and push rates of it back down.
“Now, if we manage to do that, then hopefully we will be able to start lifting some of these restrictions while the vaccination programme is ongoing, even in that first phase of it.
“But I can’t be certain about that yet, because it’s dependent on us managing to get the levels of infection down.”
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