Sturgeon under fire over ‘failures’ as she is forced to apologise to students

Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to students across Scotland as her ministers ponder new measures to allow self-isolating youngsters to abandon university accommodation and return home.

Multiple outbreaks of coronavirus at campuses this week have resulted in students being told they should not visit hospitality venues or socialise with anyone outside their household this weekend.

Restrictions which came into place yesterday mean those in halls of residence will not be allowed to return home to stay with family, prompting fears many could be forced to spend Christmas away from their loved ones.

Ms Sturgeon said she backed institutions taking tough disciplinary measures against the worst rule breakers, including expulsion, but this would only be used “as a last resort”.

Police have been instructed to monitor student behaviour on and off campuses.

Around a quarter of a million students have been instructed not to visit bars, restaurants or other hospitality venues this weekend, and hundreds are self-isolating after outbreaks in Aberdeen, Dundee, Fife and Glasgow.

Scotland hit a new peak in daily coronavirus cases yesterday, at 558, with the positivity rate of tests also rising to a high of 9.5%.

At her daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said the thought of students lonely, away from home and forced to self-isolate in halls “upsets me just as it upsets everybody”.

She said: “The first thing I want to say is directly to students: I am so sorry, so heart sorry that this time in your life is being made as tough as it is just now.”

She added: “This is an exciting time in your lives but I remember from my own experience that it is also a time of adjustment and it’s also a time of homesickness as well.

“That is the case for students every year without Covid-19 but it is much more difficult given the circumstances you are all facing right now.”

Opposition leaders have accused her of a “basic failure” to anticipate the problem and provide more testing on campuses.

Ms Sturgeon denied that she was pressured by universities to allow a fuller return to campus to avoid a financial black hole, and said officials were “looking at what might be possible” for self-isolating students who wish to return home.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said students were being “threatened with expulsion and handed last-minute mixed messages”.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said it was becoming “clearer with every passing hour” that students were being punished by the government’s “incompetence and lack of foresight”.