UK coronavirus live: Scotland makes face coverings mandatory on public transport as lockdown eased

And here is Sir Ed Davey, the acting Lib Dem leader, on Dominic Raab’s remark. Davey said:

People are deeply worried [that] someone now in charge of the aid budget doesn’t seem to understand the depth of feeling about racism in our society.

1.23pm BST13:23

Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, has joined those criticised Dominic Raab for his jibe about taking the knee. She said:

To compare the protests and the symbolic gesture of taking the knee to the Game of Thrones was just far too flippant, not serious, and we need a level of leadership that is better than that.

1.10pm BST13:10

Sturgeon announces details of Scotland’s next moves to ease lockdown

Severin Carrell

People using trains, taxis, buses and ferries in Scotland will be required to wear face coverings from Monday 22 June but churches, dental surgeries and professional sports can resume, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The first minister told MSPs on Thursday that then shops with access from the street, factories, outdoor sports and outdoor markets will be allowed to reopen from Monday 29 June, provided they put strict social-distancing measures in place. Places of worship would reopen for “individual prayer only, not communal worship.”

She said marriages and civil partnership ceremonies could also resume from that date but only outdoors, while playgrounds and zoos could also reopen, but only for people leaving in the surrounding area.

She said shielding people, who have been ordered to stay at home and avoid contact with non-family members, should be able to leave home from tomorrow and to start non-contact sports. She urged people not to travel further than 5 miles for home, unless seeing close family. Face coverings on all public transport would be mandatory, she stressed.

Scotland’s lockdown measures are the strictest in the UK, with other parts of the UK reopening shops and other businesses more quickly, but Sturgeon said caution was essential, as was maintaining the strict two metre distancing rule.

She said the Scottish government want to delay outdoor restaurants and pubs reopening until July, when she would set out the next phase of easing the lockdown. Sturgeon is under intense pressure from the Tories, the tourism trade and business leaders to ease restrictions much more quickly.

She told MSPs:

As we start to feel that the virus is receding, there will be a growing desire to move back to normality more quickly.

And we will feel frustrated at times, if that journey seems too slow. That is true for individuals – and also, I know, for business. The impact of this crisis on businesses, large and small, is colossal and we all want the economy to re-open as quickly as possible.

But if – as I believe is the case – frustration, leading to a premature easing of too many restrictions, is our biggest risk right now, it is equally true that patience could reap our biggest rewards.

Updated
at 1.35pm BST

12.57pm BST12:57

Sturgeon says face coverings will be compulsory on public transport in Scotland from Monday

Sturgeon says she wants to get children back to school.

As they open up workplaces, more people will use public transport.

She says from Monday face coverings will be mandatory on all public transport.

12.55pm BST12:55

Sturgeon says she has commissioned further advice on physical distancing.

The current evidence supports two metres, she says.

She says she will not change this without good evidence.

But she has asked her advisers to consider whether in some settings one metre, or 1.5 metres, might be appropriate.

She says she wants to get this advice back within two weeks.

12.53pm BST12:53

Sturgeon says her government’s plan did suggest beer gardens would be able to open in phase two.

But she cannot allow that now. Further evidence is needed. She says there is evidence suggesting they could be hotspots for infection.

She says she expects to get this extra scientific advice by 2 July.

At that point she should be able to say if beer gardens can reopen, she says.

12.52pm BST12:52

Sturgeon says these moves represent significant but careful change.

12.51pm BST12:51

Sturgeon says there will be a more significant reopening of health services over the coming weeks.

Public services will be gradually opening up too, she says, like energy efficiency schemes.

12.49pm BST12:49

Sturgeon says further changes will take place from Monday 29 June.

Some indooor workplaces, like factories and laboratories, will be allowed to open.

But non-essential offices, like call centres, will stay closed.

Outdoor markets and outdoor playgrounds will open, she says.

Restrictions on moving house will be lifted.

And registration offices will reopen, she says.

12.47pm BST12:47

Sturgeon says further changes will come into effect from Monday 22 June.

The construction sector will be able to move on to the next stage of its plans.

Dentists can open, subject to restriction.

Some more sports can resume, she says.

And she says places of worship will be able to open for individual prayer.

12.46pm BST12:46

Sturgeon announces ‘extended household’ scheme for single adult households

Sturgeon turns to the rules for non-shielding people.

From tomorrow, people can meet outdoors with people from up to two households. It can be up to two households at a time, or two households over the course of a day.

But they should not meet in groups of more than eight, she says.

If people need to go indoors to use the toilet at someone else’s home, they should clean surfaces carefully, she says.

And she says single adult household will be able to form a group with another household.

(This is the “support bubble” plan already introduced in England, although Sturgeon does not use that term. She is talking about “extended households”.)

Sturgeon says this might benefit grandparents living alone, or single parents, and couples who live apart.

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