Highland MSP demands 'drop the Vaccine Passports'

The Scottish Government has been told to listen to businesses and finally drop its plans to introduce vaccine passports.

Speaking in a Scottish Parliament debate on the scheme, Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said that proposals to introduce the passports from this Friday (1st October) were poorly thought out, not properly consulted on and were mired in confusion.

Following yesterday’s announcement by Nicola Sturgeon that the SNP had been forced to delay full implementation of the scheme, Mr Halcro Johnston, who is his party’s spokesman on Business and Enterprise, said SNP ministers should now drop the plan entirely as businesses as the public had lost all confidence in the government’s approach.

The debate this afternoon was called by the Scottish Conservatives and will force a vote this evening on the Scottish Government’s plans.

Mr Halcro Johnston said: “The Scottish Government’s plans for vaccine passports are impractical and ill-considered.

“With only days to go before they were supposed to be introduced, the lack of details made available to businesses by the Scottish Government, and the growing anger at how these plans were being forced though, has meant SNP ministers have had to delay full introduction and apply a grace period.

“As embarrassing as it is for the Scottish Government, it’s clear that their vaccine passport scheme is in disarray and that this grace period does not address the fundamental problems with their plans.

“From day one, SNP ministers have been unable to answer the very practical questions that I and my colleagues have been asking them – often on behalf of businesses and the public – on issues such as which venues were exempt, how medical exemptions were to be treated, how robust the technology is and how businesses might be supported.

“Tonight’s vote will give the Scottish Parliament the chance to reject these unpopular and ill-considered plans.

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