Nicola Sturgeon’s economic guru has predicted the First Minister will scrap the two metre rule “soon-ish”.
Benny Higgins said the physical distancing restriction made it “well nigh impossible” for tourism businesses to survive.
Higgins, whose career started at Standard Life, has held a range of senior posts in the banking world.
He was chief executive of retail banking at RBS and was also CEO of Tesco Bank.
He is currently executive chairman of Buccleuch Group and was asked by the Scottish Government to chair the Advisory group on Economic Recovery.
In an interview with the Daily Record, Higgins addressed the key issue preoccupying the business community, namely the two metre rule.
Asked how much of an impediment it is to economic recovery, he said: “It is an issue, okay.”
Higgins said the question of a one or two metre rule should not be seen as “binary”, but said: “The real answer here is to get this ‘r’ number down low enough that you can actually get out of any social distancing.
“On the way to that, getting from two to one is probably important. I suspect that, without any inner circle knowledge, that Boris will do it pretty soon and we will do it soon-ish, but not quite at the same time. It is important.”
He explained: “It is going to be hard for tourism and hospitality sectors to survive on a one metre, and at two metres it is well nigh impossible for an awful lot of them.”
Higgins added: “If we don’t get schools back, I think employment suffers, and there is further learning loss in schools.”
Sturgeon has previously said the Government is reviewing the two metre rule.
