'I have asked a lot of you' Nicola Sturgeon thanks Scots for sacrifices over year of lockdown in open letter to voters

First Minister made the announcement at a media briefing in Edinburgh today where she also announced Glasgow would remain at Level 3 for now.

covid pandemic. He replaces Jeane Freeman, who retired as an MSP at the last election.A Scottish Government press release said: “Humza Yousaf becomes Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, with responsibility for the NHS, including ongoing health service remobilisation as we move out of the pandemic.

last-minute U-turn on Glasgow’s lockdown release will cost the hospitality industry £1million a day, it has been warned. Hundreds of pubs and restaurants devastated by months of enforced closure had been preparing to open their doors tomorrow.

Join thousands of others and get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox.Nicola Sturgeon has announced that the city of Glasgow will remain in level three for another week after a spike in covid infection cases.She said there is evidence suggesting the outbreak, concentrated in the south side of the city, is being driven by so-called Indian variant.Glasgow, like most of the country, was due to go to level 2 on Monday.Going to this level would have meant pubs being able to

Nicola Sturgeon as he backed calls for another independence referendum. The Line of Duty star said the SNP leader was the 'most competent' person to lead Scotland to recovery following the economic fallout from coronavirus lockdowns.

Nicola Sturgeon admitted there was a level of concern about the number of new cases linked to the Indian variant which has spread across parts of Europe. The Scottish Government's National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch said cases in Scotland's biggest city are higher than they would like and urged people to follow the rules to stop the further spread of the variant that has killed thousands in India.

Nicola Sturgeon 'asked people not to lick one another' as she 'looked forward to the bingo with her pals' in Janey Godley's latest voiceover.

First Minister said that case numbers in North East region taking in Forres, Elgin, Lossiemouth and Buckie, are more than four times higher than in the rest of the country which is due to move to Level 2 on Monday.Sturgeon said :“It’s against that backdrop that, unless the situation was to materially improve over the next few days, it would simply not be safe or sensible to ease restrictions there from Monday.”Read the full story.The “huge success” of the vaccination programme along with

have been allowed this year.Scots will also be able to meet outdoors in groups of eight people from eight different households.It comes as the number of people testing positive for covid has plummeted in recent months, with hospitalisations caused by coronavirus also in steep decline.The country's vaccination roll-out also continues at speed, with more than half of the population having received at least one dose.Speaking at her first covid media briefing since winning reelection last week, the

First Minister will likely confirm the country can move to level two as of next Monday when she updates Scots at a media briefing later today. Speculation mounted last night that the Scottish Government will introduce a traffic light system by the end of the month which provide a list of foreign countries Scots can travel to without the need for quarantine.

Scottish Tories of fuelling divisions in the country by focusing on the constitution.

year. The SNP leader appeared on the BBC Andrew Marr Show where she was asked about her plans on the constitution after Greens secured a majority for independence in the Holyrood chamber.

64 MSPs in the 129-seat parliament which is one short of a majority however with the eight Scottish Greens elected there is a majority of independence parties. Sturgeon said her priority following the election would be to focus on Scotland's recovery from the devastating coronavirus pandemic.

First Minister stopped by the unusual outdoor decor earlier today. She was leafleting in Prestonpans, East Lothian when she spotted the house.The owners had created a giant Scottish flag outside their home with bright blue stones in the shape of a saltire.

Today programme the SNP leader said the Scottish Government would negotiate terms to "allow businesses to keep trading". Sturgeon said: "This is the frankness that certain sections of the media will seek to stir up trouble on - I am not denying that we would need to confront and resolve the issues of being in the European Union for the border between Scotland and England.

Nicola ­Sturgeon has told Scots to “take it easy” as the country takes its first real steps out of lockdown since Boxing Day.Today, pub beer gardens will re-open for the first time allowing up to six people from six different homes to meet up outdoors and consume alcohol.Restaurants, bars and cafes will also be able to open indoors until 8pm but will not be permitted to sell alcohol.Shops, gyms, beauty parlours, swimming pools, libraries, galleries and museums will also be back in business as

Labour leapt on the controversy which was given oxygen when an SNP candidate last week claimed a hard border with England would create jobs. Sturgeon faced tough questions on potential border arrangements in a fractious Sunday morning interview with Andrew Marr in which she also admitted that the SNP had done no modelling on the economic effects of independence.

Nicola Sturgeon blasted hundreds of anti vaccine campaigners who protested in Glasgow demanding for an end to lockdown. The First Minister tweeted her fury as photographs of protesters holding signs declaring Covid to be a hoax went viral across the internet.

Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scots to download a new NHS Scotland ‘check in’ app ahead of pubs reopening on Monday. The Check In Scotland app allows staff and customers to check in and out of a range of venues across Scotland - including bars, restaurants, hairdressers, places of worship and cinemas.

could create jobs in the south of the country. But the First Minister insisted: “Nobody in the SNP wants to see a border between Scotland and England”.