Seòmar agus comataidhean

Does Rachael Hamilton accept that the most damaging nationalism and ignoring of farmers has been through Brexit and the Conservative Party?

Can the First Minister say anything about the Government’s thinking on face coverings, moving forward? I am thinking particularly about schools—there was a suggestion that face coverings would be used in them for a limited period—places of worship and perhaps sports stadia, where people are sitting outside.

Is the member arguing that we should have given less to the NHS and more to local government?

The First Minister has already mentioned booster or third jags. Can she provide any more information about that? For example, are we going to be using pharmacies more, as we do with flu jags? Depending on which vaccine we use, are there sufficient supplies available?

There has been a lot of discussion about the need for a third jag or booster, perhaps some time in the autumn, but many people in developing countries have not yet had access to any vaccine whatsoever. How do we get the balance right between protecting our population and caring for the rest of the world?

We understand that United Kingdom food and drink exports to the European Union were down by 47 per cent in the first quarter of this year, and that Scotland’s gross domestic product could fall by £9 billion by 2030. After Covid, should the people of Scotland have a choice between a disastrous Tory Brexit and friendly relations with all European nations?

Does Jackie Bailie agree that, all the way through the pandemic, we have kept hoping that things would be finished quicker than they were, and that problems such as new variants or shortages of vaccine have arisen? Is it not wiser to leave the other six-month period in place?

As the First Minister knows, churches and other places of worship have been keen to follow the guidelines. However, they are also keen to reduce social distancing and to sing again. Can she clarify when that will happen?

One of the Conservatives’ criticisms of the Government is that it makes decisions too late and does not give enough notice. Does the timing of the bill not give more certainty to everyone?

I think that we all agree that the vaccines will win—we certainly very much hope that they will—but we have not yet caught up with the virus. The issue is at what point we will catch up and overtake the virus. That has not yet happened, and we are pretty sure that it will not happen by 30 September. It is worth reiterating that the bill means a reduction in powers for Government ministers and that the powers that are continuing are not being changed, so it is difficult to see why there should be much fuss about any of it.

I recently looked back at the legacy report of the COVID-19 Committee. I appreciated being a member of that committee towards the end of the previous session, and I think that I am the only member of it who will be a member of the new COVID-19 Recovery Committee. The legacy report said that the enhanced scrutiny arrangements had generally worked well, and referred to

“the opportunity to take evidence from Scottish Ministers and public health officials at its weekly meetings”.

The report recommended that a similar committee should continue

“in the early part of the new session”,

as should that opportunity to take evidence.

In some ways, it is disappointing that committees are starting only this week, as Gillian Martin pointed out. I am still not exactly clear which issues the new COVID-19 Recovery Committee will deal with and which issues will be for the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. For example, which committee will deal with new variants and vaccination rates?

The legacy report also refers to post-legislative scrutiny and suggests a review before new legislation is implemented. I accept that that will not be possible with the bill, but the point holds good for the future. The Law Society of Scotland has raised a query about whether we should rely more on civil contingencies legislation than on coronavirus-specific legislation.

Throughout the pandemic, the Conservatives have argued for more certainty and more decisions to be made further ahead so that businesses and everyone else can have time to plan properly. That is a fair argument, but if decisions had been made further ahead, that would probably have meant that schools, businesses, pubs and restaurants would all have been closed for longer. The Government has always had a difficult balance to strike between, on the one hand, trying to make the best decision with the latest available data—even if the decision had to be made late on—and, on the other hand, giving longer notice periods and making earlier decisions based on less complete data.

I think that the Conservatives understand that dilemma, but they seem to have chosen to ignore it for the sake of simplistic messaging about how bad the SNP Government is. With the bill, we are being offered more certainty, because we are dealing with it before the summer recess, but the Conservatives still complain that they want more flexibility and to leave decisions on legislation until later.

Human rights are clearly a factor in our reaction to Covid. Like other members, I am sure, I have had many emails from constituents arguing that children have the right to be at school and that visiting family members in care homes or meeting friends and relatives are also human rights.

However, it has been necessary to curtail all our rights temporarily to ensure that as many of our fellow citizens as possible—especially our most vulnerable fellow citizens—have their right to life and health better protected. I do not think that any of us wants to be dealing with the bill this week—we all wish that it was not necessary—but it is necessary, and we have a duty to take it forward, while perhaps improving it through the course of the week.

On the subject of our rights, I want to mention churches and religion in my speech. In Scotland, we have a long tradition of the separation of church and state, unlike in England, where the Queen is head of the Church of England. Within the church in Scotland, the Queen is a citizen like anyone else.

We all have the right to worship God or not as we choose, and the state does not have the right to stop us doing so. Therefore, the state must be very wary of interfering with the churches or, for that matter, with any religion. Similarly, I accept that the churches and other religious groups should not seek to dictate to the elected Government. Broadly speaking, churches accept health and safety and employment law, and similar healthy and practical legislation.

However, we still need to be careful about the dividing line between religion and the state. I was critical of some of the churches just before lockdown, when many did not meet on Sunday 22 March last year, even though lockdown did not start until Monday 23 March. I think that that sent out the message that the churches would do whatever they were told, which was unfortunate.

By contrast, earlier this year, some of the churches challenged the Government rules that said that they should be closed and, in broad terms, they won in court. I did not agree with that particular legal challenge, nor did many other churches. Despite that, most are still sticking to the other rules and guidelines on maximum numbers, social distancing, the absence of singing and so on. It is encouraging that those limits are to be relaxed over the next few weeks.

None of us wants emergencies and none of us wants emergency legislation, but the pandemic is continuing—indeed, many countries are only starting their vaccination programmes now. Therefore, although we might not like having to pass such legislation, I strongly believe that we have a duty to do so.