Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 2 March 2022.
Mr Beattie’s question highlights the fact that there was never a legal requirement in Scotland for people to self-isolate, except in limited cases for international travellers. Nevertheless, people adhered to the rules by exercising personal responsibility. Given that people have demonstrated that they will adhere to guidance, does that not give us a model for a way forward in which we rely on people exercising personal responsibility and we therefore do not need to make draconian emergency powers permanent, as the cabinet secretary proposes to do?