LD - 8 Two moments

The first was in my study at Feorlean, when I signed the Emergency Coronavirus Legislation which was introduced to the Parliament today.  Signing is a physical act and has to take place before the bill can be published.   As the Minister responsible for the Bill it was my duty to sign it but the trouble was I wasn’t in Edinburgh to do so and given the timescale it had to be done before 10.00am 

So after much consultation with lawyers, the bill team had been authorized to innovate.,   They would email me the three essential  items   (the back page of the bill, the certificate of legislative competence and the designation of a replacement minister should something happen to me) which I would then print out, sign , scan and send back.

And so it happened, creating in the by-going  a wee moment of Scottish legislative and constitutional history on a hillside in Cowal just before 8.00 this morning.

Four hours later I was in St Andrews House , about to take part in the First Minister’s daily briefing on the Pandemic.    Questions from journalists come via a video link , to enforce social distancing ,  so the Media Centre was virtually empty.