One topic above all has dominated the past 2 weeks. I cannot defend parties taking place and am in no way tempted to try. I was not at any of the events being talked about and, to be clear, nor was I at any other parties during any restrictions.
I completely understand people’s anger about the idea of the rules being broken by anyone, but particularly by the people who made the rules. I feel that anger myself. I well understand the sacrifices everyone made in not seeing friends and family members, including some that are sadly no longer with us. My deepest condolences go to anyone who lost someone as a result of the pandemic.
An investigation is ongoing. Everyone – whoever they are – is entitled to have the full facts made public about what they are accused of and then be given the opportunity to take the action they think they should as a result. Like Herald readers, I have only seen what is in the papers. I have however regularly been conveying the views of constituents – given to me both in emails and on the doorsteps – to my Government colleagues and will continue to do so. I am very sorry for the anger and upset this has caused.
Simultaneously, several other important issues are being debated in parliament. One concerns revelations that a woman who donated money to the offices of 2 MPs has turned out to be a Chinese spy. There is no allegation of laws broken, but there is clearly more to do to protect our politics from other states that might be tempted to try and influence it.
Another is cost of living increases. Readers will be aware that wholesale energy prices are currently set to cause considerable increases in bills and this, together with other issues like dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic and supply chain disruption, is going to cause a squeeze on incomes. The Government has put in place a number of measures already and is looking at what else it can do to mitigate the impacts and I will likely return to this topic in future columns.
Then there is the Plan B measures. At the time of writing the Government’s approach in taking the measures it did – and not imposing further restrictions over Christmas/New Year – seems to have been vindicated. The current data about the impact of Omicron is much more positive than first feared and well over 36 million people have now had their booster thanks to the acceleration of the programme. Meanwhile, economic data shows the economy grew in November at pre-pandemic levels. It feels there are real reasons for optimism in our fight against the virus.
