First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced that she is putting Scotland into full lockdown, with schools closed and the public required to stay in their homes.
“I can confirm now in summary that we have decided to introduce from midnight tonight for the duration of January a legal requirement to stay at home except for essential purposes,” said Sturgeon, who leads the left-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) in comments to Scotland’s devolved parliament — roughly equivalent to a state legislature in the United States.
“This is similar to the lockdown of March last year,” she confirmed.
From midnight, Scots will be legally required to stay indoors except for brief periods of exercise and essential trips, for example to go to work — if their place of work is still allowed to operate — or to buy groceries, until at least the end of January.
Those who can work remotely will be required to do so, and schools will be closed down.
The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) union welcomed the shutdown, saying it would “povide a measure of relief to many highly anxious teachers, parents, pupils and school staff at this difficult time.”
Parents’ group Us For Them Scotland disagreed, however, complaining they had been “repeatedly assured by the Scottish government that schools would stay open, and yet the doors have been slammed shut indefinitely.”
“Now that the schools will be closed until February, no-one seriously believes they will be properly open again this academic year. For children, that means a second-class education system if they’re lucky, and complete isolation from their social groups. This is time they cannot get back,” said campaign organiser Jo Bisset.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a national lockdown south of Hadrian’s Wall — and indeed for some distance north of it, as the old Roman frontier is a fair way to the south of today’s Anglo-Scottish border — at 8 p.m. tonight, although how much difference this could really make is unclear, given every inch of England is already subject to strict tier three or tier four regional restrictions, with the sole exception of the Isles of Scilly.
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