Commenting ahead of the March 16^th lockdown update from the Scottish Government, Dr Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:

“We are in a different place now than we were two weeks ago, with good progress being made on both the roll-out of the vaccination programme and numbers of new cases reducing. This has been achieved through responsible behaviours by both businesses and our communities. 

“Against this backdrop and forward predictability, we are looking for the First Minister to announce a detailed plan with timelines as to when businesses can re-open, finally enabling us to bring our staff back and welcome our customers into our secure and safe environments.

“This lockdown in particular has had a devastating impact not only on our survivability, but the additional and growing mental health factors impacting on business owners, leaders and our employees which needs to be addressed.    

“We have also called for the Scottish Government to be clear that Scotland is “open to do business”. This could happen quickly with the removal of any Scotland-wide travel ban. 

“The majority of businesses and communities have behaved responsibly, whilst continuing to follow the rules. Without the ability to travel, our tourism, leisure, and entertainment industry may not survive at all.

“We need a managed risk approach focused on any local outbreaks being dealt with immediately.”