Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today chastised the Scottish Government for being “unprepared” for student movements yet again and pointed out that the term dates “haven’t snuck up on them”.   

Responding to the First Minister's statement and confirmation that 11 local authorities will be moved in to level 4, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: 

"These new measures will change the way of life for hundreds of thousands of people so it is essential that we fully scrutinise them in a debate and vote on Thursday. 

People across Scotland opposed to independence but appalled by Boris Johnson’s views about devolution can find a good home in the Liberal Democrats.  That’s the view of the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie

Mr Rennie said: 

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today branded new reports that staff working in the Police Scotland’s Dundee control room are being instructed to turn off the contact tracing app while at work as “inexcusable”.  

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today warned that virus testing is “too limited and underutilised” after new analysis by the party showed that Scotland has done almost 20% less testing per capita than England.

Since the spring, Mr Rennie has continuously pressed the Scottish Government to get on top of testing. 

Commenting on the confirmation from the Health Secretary that she will set out vaccine rollout plans to parliament this week, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"With a second vaccine now returning good results, a new dawn is beginning to creep over the horizon.

Commenting on reports that 12 local authorities in western and central Scotland will be moved to level 4 lockdown measures, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"If half the population of the country is to be moved to level four we must have a full parliamentary debate and vote first.

The Liberal Democrats have today called on the Treasury to make smart interventions to “even the playing field” and help small shops conquer the online Christmas market and rival online shopping giants.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart has today called for an overhaul of SQA bureaucracy after the Scottish Parliament's education committee took evidence from the authors of a review of the 2020 exams process. 

Following questioning from Ms Wishart, Professor Mark Priestley told the committee that the SQA saw their role as putting in place a “technical solution” for assessment following cancellation of exams but that subsequent problems with pupils being unfairly downgraded could have been avoided had there been greater engagement with education stakeholders.