Covid in Scotland: PM says furlough available for future lockdowns

The furlough scheme will be available if there is a Covid-19 lockdown in Scotland in the future, the prime minister has suggested.

Boris Johnson announced an extension of the job support scheme to 2 December as tough measures were imposed in England.

Nicola Sturgeon said decisions on any Scottish lockdown may depend on when this funding would be available.

Mr Johnson has now told MPs that the furlough scheme would "continue to be available wherever it is needed".

Ms Sturgeon said this would be "very welcome" - but added she was "seeking urgent confirmation from the Treasury that it will be exactly as we asked for".

A new five-level system of coronavirus restrictions came into force in Scotland on Monday.

At her daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon said she would "ideally" want to assess the impact of the latest measures before deciding whether it would be necessary to impose harsher measures.

She said there were "some encouraging signs" that restrictions were having an impact in Scotland, with the rate of increase in cases "slowing down".

However, she said the position remained "very fragile" - and that she faced a "dilemma" about imposing stricter measures in the short-term if there was a time limit on the furlough scheme.

She said: "I made clear last week that we might yet have to go further and we can't rule out a move to level four for all parts of the country.

"While that decision would never be easy, there is no doubt that the availability of a more extensive furlough scheme would make it slightly less difficult, because workers would have more of their wages paid.

"The decision we have to weigh up is should we take the opportunity of more generous financial support to step harder on the brakes now, to drive down infections."

She added: "It cannot be right that the only time that additional financial support is made available is when the south of England needs to go into a lockdown. That just isn't fair given the situation we are dealing with."

The UK-wide job support scheme - which covers up to 80% of workers wages' and has supported hundreds of thousands of jobs north of the border - was extended to 2 December when Mr Johnson announced the four-week lockdown in England.

However, the UK's devolved administrations complained that this "time limited" extension only covered the period when England is under enhanced restrictions.

Wales has been in a "firebreak" lockdown since 23 October, and First Minister Mark Drakeford said requests to boost wage subsidies there had been repeatedly turned down.

Calls for more flexibility over furlough were backed by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who said in a speech on Monday morning that "this has to be cleared up, now".

He said: "It cannot be that furlough is not affordable when Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or parts of Northern England need to go into lockdown - but when all of England goes into lockdown, the taps are turned on.

"We all hope that by following the guidance and doing the right thing, a second Scottish lockdown will not be necessary.

"But if it is, the UK government must treat Scotland the same way as England."

Repeatedly questioned about the matter in the Commons, Mr Johnson said that the job support scheme applied across the UK.

He initially refused to be drawn about whether this could continue to be the case beyond December, should local lockdowns be needed in other parts of the UK.

However, he then appeared to confirm that this would be the case when asked by Mr Ross to "explain why it seems an English job is more important than a Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish one".

The prime minister said: "If other parts of the UK decide to go into measures which require the furlough scheme then of course that is available to them - that applies not just now but in the future."

Pressed on the question by SNP MP Pete Wishart, he added: "The furlough scheme will continue to be available wherever it is needed."