SCOTTISH Conservatives have found themselves giving muddled, contradictory explanations of whether Covid-19 funds from the UK Government are new or not.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Tory government pledged “further, additional funding for the Scottish Government” to help fight the fast-spreading Omicron variant – but it didn’t take long for the Treasury to admit that the cash would have come to Scotland anyway in the new year.
Despite that, a spokesperson for the Treasury insisted the cash is "additional" as it represents "money that they will be able to spend before early next year".
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that as far as her ministers could tell, the funding described as “extra” by Scottish Tory chief Douglas Ross is not additional.
During media appearances over the last 24 hours, Scottish Tory representatives struggled to get their story straight over the cash.
Speaking to BBC Scotland’s The Nine, senior MSP Murdo Fraser insisted the cash “is new money, because it’s over and above what’s in the Scottish Government’s Budget for the current year”.
The Covid recovery spokesperson was completely contradicted by his colleague Sandesh Gulhane, who described the Treasury funding as an “advance on consequentials” which would help Scotland go further and faster with the booster jag campaign.
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On Good Morning Scotland, he told listeners: “My understanding is that this is an advance on money that is coming through and it is to be spent looking to try and improve our position, especially when it comes to getting jags into people’s arms.”
Pressed again by the presenters on whether the money is “new”, the doctor started talking about how symptoms for Omicron may be slightly different to other forms of Covid – with headaches and runny noses reported more frequently.
The Scottish Conservatives have been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the SNP said: “We know the Tories have nothing positive to offer the people of Scotland so their latest false promise, while shameful, comes as no surprise.
“When businesses and livelihoods face such an uncertain future, the Tory announcement of additional financial support when not an extra penny will be provided is deeply inappropriate at any point and particularly despicable during a crisis of this scale.
“And the Scottish Tories are not even organised enough to get their false story straight. The people of Scotland will not forget this contemptible game playing.”
On Tuesday, Nicola Sturgeon accused the Treasury of “smoke and mirrors” over their announcement.
However at Holyrood, the First minister said the Scottish Government had found “around £100 million that we will use to help businesses” that are affected by new guidance on socialising due to the Omicron variant.
But she added that because the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments are not able to borrow cash to help them tackle the virus, they were forced to “rely on the Treasury”.
The First Minister continued: “Because the UK Government is at this stage not proposing any further protections – a position I do not agree with – there is no funding generated to compensate businesses for any protections we think are necessary and wish to put in place.
“That is not acceptable in current circumstances and, with the Welsh and Northern Irish Governments, we are pressing for a fairer approach that takes account of our devolved responsibilities for protecting public health.
“But for now, this is the situation we are in, and it means our public health response is curtailed by lack of finance.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted: “Throughout this pandemic, the United Kingdom has stood together as one family, and we will continue to do so.
“We are working with the Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to drive the vaccine rollout to all corners of the United Kingdom and ensure people and businesses all across the country are supported.”
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