Nicola Sturgeon says 'only a fool' would rule out a second national lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon says "only a fool” would rule out a second national lockdown.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has consistently said she cannot rule out another lockdown

The First Minister said the existing situation was still “volatile” and she would not be complacent in trying to “outwit” the virus.

At the government's daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon also said that while it would be easier to "tell people what they wanted to hear" in regards to Christmas, she would not give false hope.

Asked about working with other governments on a national plan for the festive season, she said: “I wish I could stand here and say it will all be fine on Christmas Day, but I can't do that, and if you heard me do that you should be worried about whether I was being responsible.

Nicola Sturgeon said it was be foolish to rule anything out when dealing with coronavirus.

"I desperately want people to have more normality than we have just now over Christmas, but I can't say with certainty what exactly that normality will be.

“With other governments we can talk about the principles of what we’re trying to get to. We can certainly agree that it’s possible, and it depends on the spread of the virus, we could have a consistent picture across the UK. But none of us, if we're being honest with the public, can actually stand here and tell you that's what's going to be.”

She added: "If there's one issue that would make my life easier, this would be it. But the most important thing I can say is if we want as much normality as possible by the time we get to Christmas, we must do everything possible now to drive cases down.

"If that means stepping on the brakes further, that’s a decision-making process I will set out to you, but for all of us as individuals it means sticking to all these rules rigidly. Don’t think that nipping in to a friend's on a Saturday night doesn't matter, it does.”

Ms Sturgeon was also asked if she would introduce a second full national lockdown as has happened in England. "Only a fool rules things out in the middle of a pandemic of an infectious virus," she said.

"It would be stupid for any leader to stand here and say I categorically rule out anything. There are all sorts of things you hope won't happen and you won't have to do, but I'm not going treat people like idiots and pretend I can foresee the future and rule things in or out.

“There are points over the last seven months when it would have been easier for me in the moment to do that, but I would have had to explain why I was proved wrong later on. I prefer to treat people like grown-ups and share the inherent complexities and uncertainties of what we’re dealing with.”

She added: “I wish this was a simple formula … I wish it was as simple as feeding data into a computer and it churning out the answers, but it's not and it shouldn't be, because we're trying to outfox a virus which doesn’t respect anything we care about as humans. It just looks at ways to be transmitted.

“We’ve got to try and be smart enough to outwit it, and on the evidence we’ve reason to believe we’re doing that, but we can’t be complacent and rest on our laurels.”

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