How Douglas Ross personally won furlough commitment from Boris Johnson - John Lamont

Covid is a challenge the likes of which none of us alive today has ever known.

John Lamont, MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

Three thousand Scottish families have already suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one before their time to this deadly virus. Each one of us has had our lives disrupted.

As businesses have been shuttered and our economy has gone into hibernation, we have been able to take comfort in the security of the UK Government’s furlough scheme – one of the most generous and effective anywhere in the world.

When we have needed it most, the UK Treasury has stepped-in to pay 80 per cent of the wages of workers whose jobs have been disrupted. Without that help here in Scotland, hundreds of thousands of people would have lost their livelihoods and many businesses would have gone under.

This week the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced that this lifeline scheme will continue beyond its scheduled end date, and run at least until the end of March 2021.

That means thousands of Scottish families will continue to enjoy peace of mind as we head into an uncertain winter of Coronavirus restrictions.

There will be extra support for the self-employed. And the Scottish Government will receive £1 billion budget boost.

The Chancellor also made another important commitment – one which Scottish Conservatives have been instrumental in securing.

If parts of the UK where decisions on lockdown are made by devolved governments – not the UK Government at Westminster – go into lockdown, the furlough scheme will continue to apply, even if the rest of the UK has opened back up.

The new Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, won this commitment from the Prime Minister personally.

It means that if Scotland has to lockdown when England does not, the UK Treasury will continue to support us.

This is what the Union is all about: solidarity across the four nations of the UK. We have always done best when we have pooled our resources and shared the risks.

That is how we have overcome challenges in the past – and it is how we will get through Covid-19.

The virus has no respect for borders, and it does not care for the technicalities of the devolution settlement.

But at every stage, Scotland’s two governments – at Holyrood and Westminster – have worked together through this pandemic. The Scottish Government have made their own decisions on public health guidance for Scotland.

At the same time, we have benefitted from the crucial support that only the broad shoulders of the world’s fifth largest economy could provide.

That spirit of unity and collective effort is a world away from the petty politicking and narrow nationalism that for too long has defined the political debate in Scotland.

People rightly expect that the minds of politicians should be focused like a laser-beam on the issues that really matter – not on an endless debate about the constitution, but on tackling the Coronavirus pandemic, protecting jobs, and moving our country forward.

That is exactly what Scottish Conservatives are doing.

John Lamont is the Scottish Tories MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk