THE SNP have said that the 260,000 Scots on furlough must not be “thrown under the bus again” and urged the Prime Minister to clarify that he will extend the furlough scheme for as long as is necessary to protect businesses and thousands of jobs in Scotland.
Boris Johnson was urged not to repeat the mistakes made in the winter by ensuring that if Scotland needs to extend furlough it will have access to it.
Previously, when the UK was facing a second wave of Covid-19, the Scottish Government urged the UK Government to extend furlough when Scotland went into a further lockdown.
But the SNP said at the time that the Tories had only extended the scheme when it was clear that the south of England needed to be placed under tighter restrictions.
MSP Karen Adam warned the Tories if they fail to support Scottish workers thousands of jobs will be put at risk.
She said: “We are at a crucial point in the pandemic where we start to see restrictions being eased, but businesses will still need support on our transition back to some sort of normality, and that relies on the UK Government making the furlough scheme available to Scotland whenever it is needed.
“If the Tories do not support workers and businesses then the economic damage that will cause will be severe and put thousands of jobs in Scotland at risk.
“The Tories must learn their lessons from last winter when the SNP repeatedly urged Westminster to make furlough available to businesses as Scotland went into lockdown, but it was not until the South of England was placed under tighter restrictions that furlough became available to Scotland.
“That disgraceful situation should be avoided at all costs.
“If Scotland is to be treated as an equal partner in the United Kingdom, then furlough must
be available if and when we
need it – but the fact that this question even arises is further
proof that Scotland needs the full powers of independence.”
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