All parties recognise and agree that the prime objective of the Scottish Government remains as suppress the virus and minimise the harm that it can do. However, does the First Minister agree that it is unfair to allow supermarkets and department stores such as Marks and Spencer to sell food on one floor but also non-essential goods such as clothing on others, or to allow Wilkinsons or Dunelm to sell duvets and rugs when local family businesses selling the same products cannot do so?

Will she agree to re-examine the case for independent retail businesses to open in phase 2 if they can adhere to the social distancing guidelines and if they are opening only 800m² of floor space to the public on each floor?

That is and will be under consideration as we go into the next phases of the exit from lockdown. It is important that Finlay Carson recognises that we must get the pace of this right. I wish that we could open up the economy completely tomorrow, but if we get the pace wrong, either we will have to turn back on our plans or we will see the virus run out of control and we will be back in lockdown, which will not help the economy.

There will always appear to be anomalies in what we are doing. However, there are complex considerations. With retail, we have to consider overall footfall. There is also a difference, of course, between essential items, such as food, and non-essential items when it comes to the judgment about what is absolutely necessary. With clothes shops, there are issues to do with people trying things on. We have to take account of a range of considerations.

We are discussing the issues with all sectors. We want to open up as quickly as possible, but it has to be safe and sustainable. The sustainability point is important. We will be living with the virus for some time to come. Therefore, we have to ensure that we take every step on as firm a footing as possible, so that we are not moving in one direction at a pace that ends up setting us back. Those are difficult judgments, and we will continue to make them to the best of our ability, while trying to minimise all the various harms that the virus is causing.

A week tomorrow, we will set out our judgment, based on the most up-to-date evidence, on whether we go into phase 2 of the route map, and, if we are going into phase 2, the extent to which we are able to do that. I will make a statement in Parliament next Thursday setting out the conclusions of that consideration.