Nicola Sturgeon has called on Boris Johnson to “urgently intervene” to re-start financial support for businesses facing the consequences of her covid appeal to Scots to stay at home and avoid social gatherings in the run-up to Christmas.
The First Minister told Holyrood she has requested a meeting with the Prime Minister later today to re-start furlough and business support schemes as she delivered a grave warning on the economic and health damage that could be caused by rapid spread of Omicron.
Sturgeon told MSPs that the UK government needed to “act now” to slow the spread of the virus or face the consequences.
She said: “If we don’t act now, what we have feared all along but so far avoided, the overwhelming of the NHS, could happen.
“Let me be clear, this is not a choice between protecting health and protecting the economy. A surge in infections will cause, indeed is already causing, some absences that will also cripple the economy and other critical services.”
Sturgeon said that businesses facing cancellations and lack of customers as people avoid crowded places needed financial support to help them close down to stop the spread of the virus.
The Scottish Government has allocated £100 million from its own reserves to help affected businesses and the Treasury has advanced £220 million of next year’s funding to help cope with the situation.
But Sturgeon said the devolved governments did not have the mechanisms to trigger the kind of support that is needed.
She said: “We need the UK Government to act urgently and in the same way some other countries are already doing.
“I made this point at a Cobra meeting yesterday chaired by Michael Gove and attended by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
"But there’s now a need for the urgent engagement of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.”
Sturgeon added: “We must not sleepwalk into an emergency where the consequences for both health and business will be much greater as a result of inaction that it will be if we act firmly and strongly now.”
Sturgeon also took a swipe at chancellor Rishi Sunak for being on a trip to California instead of being at his desk in the Treasury co-ordinating a response.
Downing Street said the chancellor will hold talks with representatives of the hospitality sector seeking further Government support following the emergence of the Omicron variant later.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that Sunak – who is currently in California – and Treasury chief secretary Simon Clarke would be speaking to about a dozen representatives from the sector later on Thursday.
The official said: “We are listening to what those businesses particularly affected have to say. There is already significant support in place until spring next year.”
In a broadcast clip the Prime Minister insisted his Government has “kept business going” through the pandemic.
Johnson told broadcasters: “We’ve kept businesses going throughout the crisis with more than £400 billion worth of support. We’ll continue to support business with the Covid recovery loans, with business rate reductions, with VAT reductions, and the best thing we can do is make sure that we get back to normality as fast as possible by getting boosted now.
"But what we’re also saying is that we want to keep businesses going, keep businesses open, as we have done for a long time now through the vaccination programme, and the best way to get back to normality is to get boosted now.”
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