A Week in Parliament

Boris Johnson Visit

It was incredible that during lockdown, Boris Johnson thought it was essential to come to Scotland to visit a vaccination manufacturer and various testing sites. Apparently, it was time to personally deliver his “thanks” and was described as morale-boosting. The reality was it was a political stunt. Even his advisors briefed the media in advance his trip was part of a plan to promote the benefits of the union. Bizarrely, Kier Starmer, the Labour leader, also agreed the visit was justified. The Scottish Tories then tried to compare it to Nicola Sturgeon visiting a hospital. Except she did it in December, pre lockdown. The amount of people that have to travel with Johnson is what makes this trip a disgrace. All he had to do was wait a few weeks, but this sums up his reckless attitude to the whole covid pandemic.

Travel Quarantine

A year late, the UK Government have decided now is the time to control our borders regards international travel. As Great Britain is an island, we had the best chance possible of controlling the virus, the way Australia and New Zealand have managed. But no, the UK Government refused to act. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary claims she wanted tougher border controls in March 2020 but was over-ruled. The UK Government need to provide answers. This is yet another example that decisions made in Westminster hugely affect Scotland.

Vaccine Rollout

The vaccination rollout is continuing at pace. In Scotland, the SNP Scottish Government has been sticking to the priority schedule of care home residents and care home staff first. In England, the UK Government started trying to hit more people rather than concentrate on the tricky logistics. This is why some politicians are arguing Scotland is behind. The reality is that the approach here will save more lives by getting the most vulnerable vaccinated first.

I would also remind people that the first vaccination jag is just the start. It takes three-weeks to build some resistance, then for fuller affect the second jag is required. So, in the meantime, we must continue to follow all the social distancing rules and keep our health protection measures in place.

Vaccination Wars

To be fair to the UK Government, they have done well in securing supplies of the various vaccinations to date. It is not surprising though that with such worldwide demands, that the suppliers are struggling to keep up with demand. It was therefore very unsightly for the EU to talk about imposing export restrictions on the Pfizer vaccinations going to Northern Ireland. After fighting so hard to protect Northern Ireland and the peace agreement through Brexit, it defied logic to try and utilise the vaccination as a political instrument. Luckily they reversed it within an hour. However, unwise actions such as these play straight into the hands of the arch Brexiteers as “proof” of why we are better off out of the EU. It also helps distract from the reality of the business pressures due to Brexit.