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Scottish pubs to reopen, but alcohol is banned

Chris Doherty, owner of Hemingway's in Leith, Edinburgh has decorated his empty restaurant with skeletons. The restaurant has to remain closed during the current lockdown restrictions in the central belt of Scotland - PA
Chris Doherty, owner of Hemingway's in Leith, Edinburgh has decorated his empty restaurant with skeletons. The restaurant has to remain closed during the current lockdown restrictions in the central belt of Scotland - PA

Nicola Sturgeon has been warned she risks confusing Scotland after unveiling complicated details of her new lockdown blueprint that will see pubs and restaurants in the Central Belt reopen next week but not serve alcohol.

The First Minister said licensed premises in level 3 of her five-tier system - likely to cover much of central Scotland - can reopen from Monday but are barred from serving alcoholic beverages and must shut by 6pm.

Pubs and restaurants in level 2 areas, covering much of the rest of the country, will be permitted to serve alcohol indoors with a meal until 8pm.

Ms Sturgeon also told MSPs that Scotland's islands, the Highlands and Moray may be placed in level 1 thanks to their lower coronavirus levels, allowing their pubs to open until 10.30pm and serve drinks without meals.

But she said that a ban on meeting other households indoors would remain in place at level 1 for the time being "as an extra precaution" despite a table she published last week stating it would be lifted.

The First Minister also confirmed that she was considering putting North and South Lanarkshire into the fourth and highest tier, a near full lockdown affecting nearly 700,000 people.

Ms Sturgeon said she will confirm on Thursday what level each of Scotland's 32 local authority areas will be placed in initially. MSPs  voted to note her five-tier framework.

A new postcode checker is to be launched allowing people to find out what restrictions are in place in their area at any given time.

However, opposition leaders warned of the potential for mass confusion after she disclosed that the levels would each be reviewed weekly and that different restrictions could be applied within the same council area.

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, warned "the communication job has just got so much harder" thanks to the prospect of "different parts of the country bobbing in and out of different levels at different times for different lengths of period."

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tories' Holyrood leader, said John Swinney had advised councils there could be "movement within tiers, or sub-tiers".

Although Mr Swinney said this would not happen straightaway, Ms Sturgeon confirmed that a "different approach" could be adopted for the Argyll islands than the rest of the Argyll and Bute council area.

Ms Davidson also called for a "temporary and proportionate moderation of household restrictions over Christmas as part of a four-nations strategy to tackle loneliness.

Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader, said Ms Sturgeon needed to start providing more "credible evidence" showing why she has chosen to place a council area into a particular tier so the public can understand her reasoning.

He warned that compliance with the Scottish Government's lockdown rules was reducing, while "anger and frustration are increasing."

A further 1,327 coronavirus cases were registered in Scotland yesterday, along with 25 more deaths. Ms Sturgeon said the 1,100 people in hospital was just 400 short of the peak during the first Covid-19 wave in April.

However, she insisted that the current restrictions on licensed premises and indoor household visits were "having an effect" and "slowing" the increase in cases.

She said: "If we dig in now and get Covid under more control, we perhaps open the door not to 100 per cent normality by Christmas, but hopefully to more than we have now."

Unveiling details of her blueprint, which comes into force on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said it was likely the Central Belt would be in level 3 and this would be "broadly similar" to the area's current shutdown.

But she dumped a controversial exemption for licensed cafes, which triggered chaos after her officials failed to provide any definition of which eateries could stay open until hours before the shutdown came into force.

Ms Sturgeon said that in the Central Belt "all hospitality premises will be subject to the same rules – so cafes, pubs and restaurants will be allowed to open until 6pm for food and non-alcoholic drinks."

Nicola Sturgeon, MSP First Minister attends a Covid-19 Statement on Scotland's new five level Covid alert system at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood  -  Getty Images Europe
Nicola Sturgeon, MSP First Minister attends a Covid-19 Statement on Scotland's new five level Covid alert system at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood - Getty Images Europe

She also disclosed an advisory group has been set up to study whether venues across Scotland should be allowed to reintroduce background music in licensed premises after her government banned it.

The Scottish Government earlier announced that soft play centres and nightclubs, which have remained shut since lockdown started in March, are to be handed grants of up to £50,000.

But Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, warned hundreds of businesses in tiers 3 and 4 are "now likely to stay closed beyond Christmas, or indeed permanently."

He said: "Businesses have just days to make decisions on staffing levels, the procurement of stock and indeed in relation to whether or not it is viable to continue to trade at all.

"Without a robust package of support, our hospitality and tourism sectors are facing the bleakest of winters with very little hope of recovery beyond the beginning of 2021."