PASSPORT TO CHAOS
Plans descend into farce over spot checks at football... but no clear policy on nightclubs
THE SNP’s vaccine passport plan descended into more chaos yesterday as it was revealed football clubs may be allowed to do spot checks instead of checking all fans.
Ministers are now considering different rules for different sizes of venues.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said allowing spot checks is ‘absolutely an option’ in larger venues such as football stadiums.
But it means there could be a two-tier system, with blanket inspections of all customers required in smaller venues.
Nightclub bosses warned that checking vaccine certification for all customers could make some venues unviable because of the amount of time people would need to queue before gaining entry.
The prospect of a two-tier system comes after the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) warned of the threat of crowd disorder if vaccine certificate checks are required of all spectators.
The UK Government has announced it will not go ahead with a vaccine passport scheme south of the Border.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Yousaf said that decisions are being made ‘based on our engagement with stakeholders like the SPFL’.
Asked if he was considering spot checks for football stadiums, he said ‘absolutely’, and cited a section of the Scottish Government’s paper on its plans which stated: ‘We will publish guidance to help set out what “reasonable measures” would be proportionate in different settings (for example, what is proportionate on entry to a night‘The club of 200 people may not be proportionate – or possible – in an event crowd of 60,000).’
Mr Yousaf said: ‘We acknowledge that for a different setting you are going to have to have, probably, different rules depending on that setting – and you wouldn’t want any adverse impacts, for example lots of people queueing and then potentially any crowd trouble that would follow on from there.
‘So we are happy to engage, and will engage of course, with the likes of the SPFL, with event organisers and others.
‘But we would want as many people as possible and practical to be checked.’
Questioned specifically about spot checks, he said: ‘That is absolutely an option that we are happy to consider.’
He also confirmed that a definition of a nightclub is still being worked on – after concerns were raised last week about the prospect of ‘nightclubs’ also meaning late-opening bars. Professor
Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 advisory group, said at the weekend that the UK Government made the ‘right decision’ by opting against vaccine certification.
He said it was a ‘double-edged’ sword which could accentuate opposition to vaccination among those who are sceptical.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: Health Secretary seems well out of his depth.
‘The Covid ID cards he has championed are already a shambles, with experts warning they are unnecessary and ineffective and football bosses and hospitality venues saying they’re impossible to implement.’
Murdo Fraser, Covid recovery spokesman for the Scottish
Conservatives, said the SNP’s plans were ‘half-baked’.
He said: ‘Now it seems that they’re considering spot checks, but only after football clubs made it clear their plan was unworkable.
‘The scheme will come into force in a matter of weeks and the SNP still can’t provide any clarity on key questions surrounding its implementation.’
The SPFL’s Neil Doncaster said at the weekend that spot checks were ‘the only practical reality’.
Gavin Stevenson, a spokesman for the Night Time Industries Association in Scotland, said: ‘If we are adding perhaps 30 seconds of checks to a 500-person queue then you are conceivably talking about an extra 250 minutes in that queue. Some of these details really have not been thought through yet.’
He said nightclubs ‘are just not going to be able to survive if they cannot get the customers into the door in a timely manner.’
‘Well out of his depth’ ‘Not thought through’