Nicola Sturgeon facing backlash over delays to Scottish lockdown easing

Nicola Sturgeon delayed exit from lockdown for nearly three million Scots despite three quarters of over-50s in the areas held back already being fully vaccinated and intensive care wards being almost empty of Covid patients.

On Wednesday night, the First Minister faced a growing backlash over her decision to leave more than half a dozen mainly Central Belt council areas in "limbo" by cancelling a planned move into Level 1 next week, citing rising case numbers and the highly transmissible Indian variant.

She said the full-blown return to the levels system, which will see 13 council areas held back and Glasgow finally allowed to move to Level 2, was needed to buy time for people to receive second vaccine doses.

However, analysis by The Telegraph shows that in the council areas that saw their expected journey to normality blocked this week, 75 per cent of those aged 50 or over – the most vulnerable age groups according to experts – have already been fully vaccinated.

More than seven in 10 Scots who have underlying health conditions making them move vulnerable to Covid have also had both doses.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said "the union has saved lives" with its vaccine procurement scheme and hinted that SNP ministers had been reluctant to sign up to it last year. A mass unlocking in England remains on course to take place later this month.

But Humza Yousaf, the SNP health secretary, warned that the country could be "at the foothills" of a third wave of the virus and said Scottish ministers "would not wait for people to die to take action".

At Holyrood, Kate Forbes, the finance secretary, suggested some businesses may have to wait until "earlier in the autumn" for a "move to more normality".

However, in many areas, wards remain virtually empty of coronavirus patients. Across North and South Lanarkshire, which are being kept in Level 2 and have a combined population of more than 650,000, no Covid patients were in intensive care on Wednesday and just 13 were in hospital.

Of the 14 areas that will be kept in Level 2 next week, 11 have recorded no Covid deaths for more than a month, and across the whole of Scotland just 10 virus patients were in intensive care on Wednesday night.

Opponents claimed the strict measures appeared increasingly disproportionate in the face of overwhelming evidence that vaccines were succeeding in preventing serious illness and death.

Annie Wells, the health spokeswoman for the Scottish Tories, said the statistics showed the "overwhelmingly positive" impact vaccines were having on reducing deaths and hospitalisations, adding: "Keeping whole council areas under tougher restrictions when the public health picture is rapidly improving simply doesn't work any more.

"We must see the SNP take a more localised approach and ramp up testing and get jabs into people's arms where there are specific Covid outbreaks. Putting the brakes on these areas moving to Level 1 was the wrong move as this clear public health evidence shows.”

Boris Johnson, who will meet Ms Sturgeon on Thursday in a virtual four-nations summit to discuss the virus, on Wednesday said he saw "nothing in the data" to suggest England's ending of lockdown measures on June 21 could not go ahead, although a final decision is yet to be taken.

Remaining in Level 2 means tougher restrictions on hospitality businesses, while some firms, such as funfairs and soft play centres, are prevented from opening altogether.

Craig Meikle, the owner of the Saltire Soft Play and Football Centre in Midlothian, one of the areas being kept in Level 2, described the Scottish government's approach as "insane". Neighbouring East Lothian and the Borders are moving to Level 1.

"There's no travel restrictions," he said. "So my business is now in the insane position where my nearest competitor, six miles away, is allowed to open on Monday. My customers can now literally drive past my front door, and drive to one of my competitors and take their kids to soft play."

Ms Sturgeon has claimed her decision to keep areas in Level 2 was based on rising case numbers and the more transmissible Indian variant taking hold in Scotland. Overall, only around half of Scots have been fully vaccinated, although healthy, younger people are far less likely to develop serious illness if they catch Covid.

Ms Sturgeon said the country was at a "delicate and fragile point", adding: "Because not all adults have been fully vaccinated with two doses to date, we are not quite there yet. All of this means that at this critical stage, to avoid being knocked off course completely, we must still err on the side of caution.”