Chamber and committees

In summary answer to the question that Douglas Ross ended on, I say that, yes, I am happy, as I said in my statement, to discuss all those ideas and suggestions as we finalise—as we will do later this year—our programme for government for the first full year of this new parliamentary session. That invitation is there and the door is open. I hope that we will see parties across the chamber walk through it and work with us. We should not pretend that we do not have differences of opinion—after all, we live in a democracy. Instead, we should be prepared to rise above those differences to work together for the common good. I think that I have made clear today my willingness to do that.

My more general response to Douglas Ross is that we have, of course, just had an election—that wonderful expression of democracy. In that election, I said to the Scottish people that if I was re-elected as First Minister, I would prioritise first and foremost leading us through the Covid recovery and would put forward an ambitious policy programme to drive our economic recovery, and then, when the crisis was over, I would propose that the people of Scotland got the opportunity to choose our long-term future. My party won that election, and I have set out today how I intend to deliver on the commitments that I made in it, which were so thoroughly endorsed in the mandate that the Scottish people gave us.

Douglas Ross is right that most of my statement focused on what we will do just in our first 100 days, building on the progress that we have made. He mentioned teachers and childcare. Teacher numbers in our schools have been increasing ever since I became First Minister. We have been progressing plans to double childcare. That has been slightly delayed because of Covid, but that promise will be delivered in full from August and we are now moving on to the next phase. That is our focus.

I ask all parties in the chamber to stop re-fighting the election. The people of Scotland had their say and made their decision. Let us debate our differences robustly and in a spirit of civility, but let us come together where we can to work on the things on which we can agree in the interests of the people of Scotland.

If Jackie Baillie is seriously saying that a remobilisation plan that was, rightly, published in the very early stages of a global pandemic should not be updated a year into that global pandemic, I am not sure that she will find many people across the country who agree with her. The remobilisation plan, which is for the longer-term recovery of our national health service—it covers the short, the medium and the longer terms, as we seek to put the NHS on a sustainable footing for the future—is a key part of our plans. Humza Yousaf will set out more detail on it shortly.

On waiting times, before the pandemic, our £850 million waiting time improvement plan was starting to reduce the longest waits and to have a positive impact on waiting times. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic has set back all that, and more. Therefore, the job of work and the scale of the task ahead of us are considerable. That job is partly about building capacity in our NHS—a range of plans to do that are under way—but it is also about redesigning pathways of care. The centre for sustainable delivery in the NHS, which is a relatively recent innovation, will be key to some of that work.

It is a big job of work—not just for the Scottish Government, but for Governments across the world—to get health services back on track and on to a sustainable footing. Few things that we do will be more important than that over the coming weeks and months.

I rise to seek Parliament’s approval that Shona Robison, Keith Brown, Mairi Gougeon and Angus Robertson be appointed as Scottish ministers and that George Adam, Tom Arthur and Màiri McAllan be appointed as Scottish junior ministers.

I have appointed a serious Government for the serious times that we live in. This Government brings together experience with new talent and is a team that can get straight down to business—indeed, it already has.

In nominating these new cabinet secretaries and ministers, I first pay tribute to those who are departing the Government. Among Fiona Hyslop’s many achievements during her long years in the Government, she oversaw the abolition of university tuition fees, expanded the Scottish Government’s international footprint and, more recently, worked tirelessly to support jobs and the economy during the pandemic. Fergus Ewing, too, has performed a number of ministerial roles. I note in particular his work as a tireless champion for Scotland’s farmers and crofters, fighting for Scotland’s rural sector since the Brexit vote, during one of the most challenging and uncertain periods that our agriculture sector has ever faced. Both Fiona and Fergus are very dear friends of mine—indeed, friends of everybody on these benches as well as other colleagues—and they leave the Government with our sincere thanks and best wishes.

I turn to today’s appointments. First, Shona Robison returns to the Government after a period in which, among many other things, she chaired the Scottish National Party’s Social Justice and Fairness Commission. In her new brief as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona will be responsible for many of our Government’s key priorities, which include the delivery of 100,000 affordable homes, the tackling of child poverty and the development of the potentially transformative policy of a minimum income guarantee.

Keith Brown returns to the Government as Cabinet Secretary for Justice and brings formidable experience to that role. Keith will be responsible for continuing the Government’s reform of the justice system as well as work to reduce reoffending. Having himself served in the armed forces, Keith will also be minister for veterans.

Mairi Gougeon joins the Cabinet with the rural affairs and islands brief. Before her role as Minister for Public Health and Sport, she served as Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, so she is well versed in the sensitivities and challenges that she faces in her new role. I am pleased to say that she is already working hard to defend Scotland’s farmers from the Tories’ proposed tariff-free trade deal with Australia which, if it goes ahead, will be devastating to our farmers and must be resisted for that reason.

Finally, Angus Robertson becomes the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. During his time in the House of Commons, Angus developed a well-earned reputation for not only building bridges across party lines but forging friendships internationally, making him ideally suited to the role. Angus will also be charged with fulfilling the Government’s manifesto commitment, endorsed by the electorate in our election victory, of ensuring that Scotland’s future is in Scotland’s hands and that, after the Covid crisis, the people of Scotland will have the opportunity to choose our future.

A number of other colleagues remain in the Cabinet but take up new and expanded roles that reflect the challenges that lie ahead. John Swinney continues as Deputy First Minister in a new cross-Government role that is designed to reflect the cross-portfolio nature of our recovery from Covid. He will quickly bring people together to discuss the next steps in our recovery from the pandemic, with the first meeting of the cross-party steering group on Covid recovery expected to take place next week.

I have asked Humza Yousaf to become Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, filling the enormous shoes left by Jeane Freeman. Protecting and remobilising our national health service is one of the biggest and most immediate priorities of the Government in the months ahead, and I have every confidence that Humza will lead that process well. Humza and his ministerial team will also take forward the delivery of the national care service, which will perhaps be the biggest public service reform in this entire parliamentary session.

Shirley-Anne Somerville has proved herself a highly capable cabinet secretary in the social security brief, and I am delighted that she has accepted the position of Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. Her immediate focus will be on supporting our young people, students and those who support them through what has been an unprecedented period of disruption to education. Her overarching mission will be to continue our work in closing the educational attainment gap.

Kate Forbes will take on the new expanded brief of finance and the economy. She will continue to lead on the immediate and pressing challenges of supporting businesses and jobs in the current period of economic uncertainty, and she will also be charged with looking to the future as we seek to build a more sustainable economy that works for everyone. That includes delivering our commitments to establish a women’s business centre, a green jobs fund and a rural entrepreneur fund, taking forward work to explore the benefits of a four-day working week and much more besides.

As we have faced the challenge of Covid, we also face the climate emergency. I have decided to appoint a Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport to bring together the key actions that we need to take to meet our net zero target. I have noted commentary over the past 24 hours to the effect that there is a tension in that brief between responsibility for our net zero target and responsibility for two of the biggest emitting parts of society, to which I respond by gently saying that that is precisely the point. We must make transformational change in our transport and energy systems to deliver net zero, and Michael Matheson has been appointed to drive that change.

With regard to the junior ministerial appointments, George Adam performed the often difficult role of chief whip with good humour and a mostly respectful attitude towards colleagues—two skills that I know will serve him well in his new role as Minister for Parliamentary Business. Tom Arthur will also be hanging up his whip, so to speak, to take on the important role of Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, which is a promotion that is well merited given his performance on the back benches over the previous parliamentary session.

Màiri McAllan is to become Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform. Màiri is an energy and environment lawyer by trade and, along with colleagues, she established RebLaw Scotland, a group of lawyers seeking to use the law to deliver social justice. Although she is a newly elected MSP, Màiri is no stranger to the Government, nor to many MSPs in other parties, having supported Roseanna Cunningham in delivering the climate change plan.

Finally, I am very pleased that Ash Denham, Christina McKelvie, Jenny Gilruth, Ivan McKee, Jamie Hepburn, Richard Lochhead, Maree Todd, Kevin Stewart, Clare Haughey, Graeme Dey and Ben Macpherson have all agreed to continue serving in the Government. Angela Constance will also continue the vital work that she started as Minister for Drugs Policy back in December, underlining our—and my—commitment to tackling the unacceptable toll that drugs take in our society.

All today’s appointments obviously have my full confidence, but whatever our political allegiances in the chamber, I hope—indeed, I am sure—that everyone will wish them success in their new roles.

In the first days of this new session, much has been said—I believe with sincerity—about us all working across parties, building consensus and, where we share interests and ambitions, trying to take them forward together. I expect my ministers to behave and conduct themselves in that way, starting, as soon as they are appointed, by meeting their counterparts across the other parties. However, I say also that the Government and those ministers have been elected and appointed to deliver on the manifesto that we stood and won the election on. The first part of that is to deliver on the commitments in our first 100 days plan, on which work has already started.

I have never taken support for the SNP for granted, and I never will. Nor have I ever claimed that we have a monopoly on wisdom; clearly, we do not. We stand ready to listen to and adopt good ideas, wherever they come from, if that is in the interests of the people whom we serve.

I have never known a parliamentary session begin with so many challenges facing our country—indeed, many of them are facing the whole world. In the face of a global public health emergency, unprecedented economic uncertainty and, of course, the looming climate and nature catastrophe, none of us should waste time in petty squabbling or political games. We have legitimate differences and we should debate those respectfully, but we should, where we can, work together in the interests of the country.

Many new faces are in the chamber, and I think that the new session represents something of a generational shift in the short history of our re-established Parliament. I know that all MSPs are keen to repay the trust that the electorate has placed in us all, and my new ministerial team is itching to get to work. I hope that the motions in my name will command support across the Parliament today.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that Angus Robertson, Keith Brown, Mairi Gougeon and Shona Robison be appointed as Scottish Ministers.

That the Parliament agrees that George Adam, Tom Arthur and Màiri McAllan be appointed as junior Scottish Ministers.

I will briefly respond to some of the comments that have been made.

First, I turn to Alex Cole-Hamilton and the amendment in his name. The appointments to Government absolutely reflect, as any objective observer would see, the priority that is attached to Covid recovery and to tackling the climate emergency.

I will make a couple of points on the constitution portfolio. First, it is not a new portfolio; it existed in the previous parliamentary session. As Patrick Harvie said, the constitution is not about just independence; it is also about ensuring that Scotland’s voice is heard in the face of the damaging implications of Brexit, and that Scotland is defended in the face of the Tory power grab on this Parliament and this Government.

On the question of independence, the priority that I give to Covid recovery is clear. I reiterate that today. However, the fact is that independence and, after Covid has passed, giving the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose independence, if that is their wish, is a policy of the Government that I lead. The Liberal Democrats might disagree with that—that is their right—but that does not change the facts that the SNP won the election on that manifesto and that the Liberal Democrats went from having five MSPs to having just four. Perhaps some honest reflection on that on their part might serve them well for their future prospects.

Turning to Jackson Carlaw, I have to say that his talk of—I think that I noted this down correctly—sudden “swerves” in other people’s careers serves only to suggest that he has not come back from the election having increased his stock of self-awareness. Jackson Carlaw, having been ousted in a rather undignified way—[Interruption.] I hear Douglas Ross muttering from a sedentary position. He was the person who ousted Jackson Carlaw in such an undignified way.

I am very pleased to see and hear that Jackson Carlaw has held on to his much-valued role as in-house comedian for the Conservative Party, although I say, with his best interests at heart, that the jokes about other people being sacked from their posts might need to be updated in light of his recent personal experience.

Patrick Harvie said that he was glad not be to following Jackson Carlaw. I guess that there were points during the election campaign when Douglas Ross wished that he had not followed Jackson Carlaw, but that is another matter altogether. [Interruption.] Douglas Ross’s mutterings from a sedentary position suggest that he might need to develop a sense of humour, if he is to flourish in any way in this Parliament. This shows, of course, that my stock of self-awareness is in a perfectly healthy condition.

To become a tad serious, I note that Anas Sarwar raised some good points—in particular, about the need to address reform in justice and in women’s justice. That is something to which I have asked Ash Denham to pay particular attention.

I thank members for their comments and ask Parliament to approve the appointments. This Government has a big job of work to do, and it is a Government that is ready and eager to get on with that job, on behalf of the country.

I genuinely thank the other two candidates in this election. Given that Douglas Ross did not express an intention to be First Minister during the election campaign, I guess that his candidacy could be seen as a heroic, if slightly belated, change of heart. Then there is Willie Rennie. I say with almost a sneaking admiration that most women, even those such as I, who have been in politics for a long time, would literally give our eye teeth for just a shred of the—how can I put it diplomatically?—self-confidence of the man who can take his party from five MSPs to just four and still throw his hat into the ring to be First Minister. Fair play to him for that self-confidence, if for nothing else.

To be serious, though, on this serious occasion, I am asking MSPs today to support my nomination as First Minister, and I bring with me a mandate from the voters in the election. The past year has been the most challenging that we have ever experienced. During the election campaign, I said that my overriding duty was to do everything possible to keep our country safe. If I am nominated today, my first and driving priority will, indeed, be to lead us through the pandemic and into recovery—the recovery of our economy, of our national health service and of our society.

Some Covid restrictions have, of course, eased now because of the incredible sacrifices of people across our country and the magnificent success of the vaccination programme. However, we know that the crisis is not over, as the current situation in Moray and in Glasgow reminds us very starkly.

As we look around the world, we also see more clearly than ever before that none of us will be entirely safe until everyone across our planet is safe. The past year has demonstrated as never before our common humanity and that the fates of us all are intertwined. We see that also in the climate emergency. That is why the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—in Glasgow later this year will be a crucial event for our country and for the world. Countries across the globe will be rethinking and reimagining the societies that they want to be as they emerge from the crisis. Here, in Scotland, we must do so, too.

This is a time to think big and to be pioneers. Just as there is in many other northern European countries, I believe that there is broad agreement in Scotland about the kind of country that we want to be—a more equal society with much greater economic security; a country that is committed to building a sustainable future for the generations to come; a Scotland that is an equal partner with our friends in the rest of the United Kingdom and across Europe; and a welcoming country, not one that conducts dawn raids in multicultural communities.

Over the past year, I have sought to work across the chamber throughout the Covid crisis. If I am renominated today, I will continue to do so as we implement a programme to kick-start recovery. It will be a programme with the national health service, the economy and jobs at its heart. We will take an inclusive approach to the debate that all countries must have about how we can build the best possible post-pandemic future. In that endeavour, everyone in Scotland deserves to have an equal say. Scotland’s future must be Scotland’s choice. It is in that spirit of inclusiveness, and with a determination to work for all of Scotland each and every single day, that I am seeking the nomination of the Parliament as Scotland’s First Minister. Serving as our country’s First Minister is an immense privilege, but it is also an enormous responsibility and an enormous duty. I am ready—with the confidence of the Parliament, I hope—to get on with the job of leading this country to brighter and better times.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your kind words and the other party leaders for theirs. All words of advice are genuinely received in a spirit of good faith.

Most of all, I thank my fellow members of the Scottish Parliament for selecting me as the Parliament’s nominee to be the First Minister of Scotland. There is simply no greater privilege than to be elected as the First Minister of our country. I pledge that I will fulfil the duties placed on me to the very best of my ability. I will do all that I can with all the powers that are vested in the office of First Minister to make our country the best possible place in which to live, work and grow up.

Today is the third occasion on which I have been nominated by the Parliament to be the First Minister. On the previous two occasions, my family was present in the public gallery. Circumstances mean that that is not possible today, although, even if it had been, the loss of my father-in-law 18 months ago would have made it feel very different. I miss my family today, and that is a feeling that so many of us have had to bear during the past year. I know, however, that they are watching, so I hope that I can be indulged just for a moment as I speak to them.

Being a close family member of the First Minister is a role that, unlike me, you have no choice about, but your love and support sustains me—and never more so than through the various stresses and strains of the past year. I cannot ever thank you enough, although I could probably try harder and more often, but please know how much I do love all of you.

I spoke earlier about the privilege of being First Minister, and it is, indeed, a privilege. However, in truth, it is the heavy sense of responsibility and duty much more than the privilege that any incumbent of the office will feel most acutely every single day. For me, as First Minister for more than six years, that has never been more true than it has been during the past 14 months or so. Our country is living through the most challenging and traumatic period that most of us have ever known. Lives have been lost, families have been bereaved and separated, businesses and jobs have been lost, and many who have had Covid are still suffering from long-term health problems. I have done my best to steer us through, and I have learned the hard way that, in such a situation, there are very few good outcomes, just more or less harmful ones. Decisions that are necessary to save lives and protect health—our most important duty—will cost jobs and businesses and affect our wellbeing in so many other ways and, indeed, vice versa. I will continue to work every single day to make the best decisions possible, and I resolve never to shy away from the tough calls.

As a result of our collective sacrifice and the power of vaccination, we have made progress, but in the past few days we have also been reminded that Covid is not done with us yet. The virus still poses a real danger that we must take seriously. Tough decisions still lie ahead. That is why I want to reiterate the pledge that I made during the election campaign. For as long as is necessary, every ounce of my energy and focus will be on navigating us through the pandemic and keeping our country as safe as possible.

Of course, part of that responsibility involves laying the foundations now for the recovery that we all want to build. During the campaign, the Scottish National Party published a plan for the first 100 days of a new Government. That plan is now Scottish Government policy and the cabinet secretaries and ministers who will be appointed during the next couple of days will be charged with delivering it at pace. Among many other initiatives, it will prioritise: completing the vaccination programme as quickly as possible; implementing a pay rise for NHS workers; publishing an NHS recovery plan; opening the first three fast-track cancer diagnostic centres; removing dental charges for care leavers as the first step towards ending all dental charges; consulting on legislation to establish a new national care service; establishing a new council for economic transformation; funding colleges to deliver 5,000 more industry-focused courses; funding 1,000 extra teachers as the first phase of additional recruitment; abolishing fees for music and arts education; starting the roll-out of laptops and tablets for all school pupils; making payments to low-income families as we prepare for the doubling of the Scottish child payment; starting work on a minimum income guarantee; and taking the next steps on our journey to net zero as we prepare to welcome the world to COP26 later this year.

There is much to be getting on with, and this will be a Government of action. Many of the policy initiatives that I have mentioned will, I hope, attract cross-party agreement. I will return to that point shortly, but first I will briefly address the issue of an independence referendum, which I know that we do not all agree on. By any measure of parliamentary democracy, there is a clear mandate for a referendum within this session of Parliament. It is important, in the interests of democracy, that that is acknowledged and respected. However, it is also important that I exercise that mandate with responsibility and humility, and only when the crisis of Covid has passed. I give that commitment today.

I believe that being independent will give Scotland, now and in the future, the best chance of making the most of our vast talents and resources. There are so many ways in which that matters—and we were reminded of just one of them last week. Our economic prospects depend on us attracting more people to live and work in Scotland. Yet, on Thursday, in Kenmure Street in my constituency, immigration officials tried to forcibly remove two individuals against the wishes of their community. With independence, the decisions that shape our future will lie with us.

I have always believed that how we achieve independence is as important as the outcome itself. It will determine the strength of the foundation on which we build. I am acutely aware that opinion on whether Scotland should be independent is evenly balanced. My decisions, as a First Minister for all of Scotland, will always be mindful of that—but that should apply to all of us. The views of those who do not support independence must not be ignored; you must not feel as if you are being bludgeoned towards an outcome that you have not been persuaded of. However, by the same token, the views of those who support independence cannot be ignored either. We cannot simply be told that there is no democratic route to seeking the future that we want for our country.

That takes us to a fundamental point. Unity of purpose for any country is an important condition of success, but unity is not achieved by pretending that genuine differences of opinion do not exist or that one side of a debate has no right to be heard. Unity is best achieved through open, informed and respectful discussion and, crucially, by agreeing that, ultimately, the only legitimate way to resolve difference is through democratic means. Passions will always run high on the issue of independence, and for good reason. However, if on both sides of this great national debate we can strive for mutual understanding and empathy, and if we show a willingness sometimes to listen more than to talk and to respect the power of democracy, I believe that we can and will find the right path and that we will do so together and at the right time. I know that I will not always succeed, but I promise that I will do my best to lead in that spirit.

Building unity is partly about how we resolve issues of difference, but it is also about reaching beyond difference. There is so much that this Parliament can and should work together on. During the campaign, I was struck by the extent of the common ground between our different manifestos—even the Institute for Fiscal Studies struggled to distinguish between us in its scepticism about the financing of it all. Perhaps we should therefore work together now to prove it wrong. Seriously, however, I have been heartened by my discussions across party lines since the election, and I hope that they will develop positively.

Whatever else happens over the next five years, let us come together to build a legacy out of this pandemic for the generations that come after us, including opportunities for every young person, a national care service to match the vision and ambition of our national health service, policies that will lift children and families out of poverty and give everyone the basic security that they need to fulfil their potential, and action that will not only end our contribution to climate change but harness the massive economic opportunities of doing so and give us the moral authority to exhort the rest of the world to do likewise.

The sixth session of our Parliament is convening in the toughest of times, but we have reasons to be optimistic. We have been elected on a bigger voter turnout and by a wider franchise than ever before. We look more like the Scotland that we represent than our predecessors did. We—well, maybe not all of us—are younger, and we are more diverse. We have more women, more members of minority ethnic communities, the first women of colour and the first permanent wheelchair user. Let us take heart from all of that and resolve not only individually but collectively to live up to the expectations that Scotland has vested in us.

Out of these tough times, there is a duty to be bold and fearless. When I accepted the Parliament’s nomination as First Minister in 2016, I quoted our first makar, Edwin Morgan, whose words remind us of our mandate to be bold. Today, I will end with the words of someone else from whom I take inspiration, the late Eleanor Roosevelt:

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face ... You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

I hope that that advice will guide this Parliament—it is certainly how I will seek to govern.

I thank the Parliament again for its confidence, and I pledge to serve all of Scotland with boldness, energy and dedication, and to do so in a spirit of integrity, friendship and common purpose. [Applause.]

We will have further discussions with both councils and their economic resilience teams, to make sure that we provide maximum financial support.

The situation is difficult in Moray. However, as Douglas Ross rightly said, there has at least been more notice there than there has been in Glasgow. Many businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, will have taken bookings for Monday that can no longer be honoured in the same way. We are very mindful of that impact and will do everything that we can to mitigate and compensate for it. That is the very clear message that I want to give to the business community.

I will absolutely take away and consider the point about the immediacy of the implementation of any decision. One of the difficult balances that we always have to strike is between waiting until the latest possible moment so that the data that we base our decisions on is as up to date as possible and giving businesses more notice. However, it is a legitimate point, which I will factor into the thinking over the next days. We will set out early next week, if we can, what we expect the time lag to be between a decision being announced at the end of next week and that decision being implemented.

We will issue details of the eligibility and scope of additional funding. The point about other businesses is reasonable, although businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors will be most affected. Retail, for example, is open under level 3, but hospitality businesses—of course—expect to be able to trade more freely under level 2 than they can under level 3. We will ensure that we try as far as possible to take into account all the knock-on effects.

However, the most important thing to say is that our hope is that by acting in this regrettable way—I do not at all relish standing here today to make this announcement—by acting quickly and trying to be precautionary, the situation will be of limited duration and we will, therefore, get Glasgow and Moray back on track as quickly as possible. Certainly, we already see improvement in the situation in Moray.

Although—I say it again—given the nature of what we are dealing with, I cannot give guarantees, I very much hope that this time next week we will be setting out a much more positive and encouraging picture. However, given the situation, in particular with the Indian variant, my judgment—difficult though it is—is that caution will be in the greater and better interests of businesses than would our allowing things to go ahead, then perhaps this time next week looking at going into reverse, or at having to impose even more heavy restrictions. It is a difficult balance to strike, but my judgment is that what we are doing is, overall, likely to be much more in the interests of business—and, indeed, the two council areas—than the alternative would be.

On the factors, we do not have sufficient genomic sequencing information right now to allow me to stand here and say with certainty that the Indian variant is driving the outbreak in Glasgow. However, people will recall us talking in the context of the Kent variant about S-gene dropout, and the absence of the S gene being indicative of the Kent variant. We are now seeing more test results in which the S gene is present, which indicates a different variant. The demographics of the south side of Glasgow in particular also suggest more that the Indian variant might be at play. The evidence is not absolutely certain but is heavily indicative, from all the circumstances that we are looking at.

The question about vaccination is important. We have been vaccinating younger age groups, and an accelerated timescale has been part of the response in Moray. We have been discussing that being made part of the response in Glasgow, as well. However, I understand that one of the things that the JCVI has been looking at is whether there is evidence of variation in the effectiveness of vaccines against the Indian variant.

We expect advice from the JCVI later today or over the weekend. I want us to consider that advice before we are absolutely definitive about exactly what the accelerated vaccination programme will be in Glasgow. I am pretty sure that there will be an accelerated vaccination programme, but exactly what it will be will depend to a large extent on the advice that the JCVI gives us.