London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

MSPs to vote on Scottish vaccine passport scheme

MSPs to vote on Scottish vaccine passport scheme

MSPs are to vote on controversial plans to introduce a vaccine passport scheme in Scotland.

The move will mean that only people who have been fully vaccinated will be allowed into nightclubs, major sporting events and many concerts and festivals.

The Scottish government says the plan is designed to allow large events to go ahead as safely as possible.

But opposition parties and some of the businesses that will be affected have raised concerns.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have already vowed to vote against the proposals - while the Conservatives have described the plan as "shambolic, last-minute, kneejerk decision making".

The Scottish Greens have been highly critical of vaccine passports in the past - as have some senior Scottish government ministers - but have since signed a formal partnership agreement with the SNP and are thought to be unlikely to vote against the proposals.

The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has also raised concerns about how the scheme will work in practice, while some figures within the hospitality industry have questioned how a nightclub will be defined.

And some people who had one of their vaccine doses outside of Scotland have experienced problems in getting an accurate vaccination certificate.

Assuming the proposals are approved by Holyrood, the passport scheme is expected to come into force at the end of the month, once all adults in Scotland have had the chance to be fully vaccinated.

The new rules will mean people over the age of 18 will need to show they have had both doses of the vaccine before they are allowed entry to:

*  Nightclubs and adult entertainment venues.
*  Unseated indoor live events, with more than 500 people in the audience.
*  Unseated outdoor live events, with more than 4,000 people in the audience.
*  Any event, of any nature, which has more than 10,000 people in attendance.

People who have had two vaccines in Scotland can already download or get a paper copy of a certificate with a QR code.

By the end of the month, it is expected that this code will also be available on a new NHS Scotland Status app.

These codes can be scanned at a venue to confirm the user is fully vaccinated.

Anyone who has good reasons for not getting fully vaccinated - including children and people with particular medical conditions - will be exempt.

Similar schemes are already in operation in other European countries, while people in England will need to have a "Covid pass" to access "higher risk" settings such as nightclubs from the end of this month.


A major goal of the scheme is to encourage more younger people to be vaccinated - with the latest figures showing that uptake among those under the age of 40 in Scotland has been lower than older age groups.

Many areas of Scotland have seen some of the highest Covid rates in Europe in recent weeks - although there are signs that the surge in cases is beginning to slow down.

The number of people in hospital and intensive care units has also been steadily rising, with health professionals warning that that NHS is coming under increasing strain.


First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that vaccine passports will be a direct alternative to imposing tougher restrictions on venues, many of which have only recently reopened.

She told the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday that certification was a "reasonable response to a very difficult situation, and much more proportionate than any likely alternatives".


Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar confirmed at the weekend that his party would vote against the scheme, which he has described as an attempt by the government to "look in control of a virus that is clearly out of control."

He said there was a chance that using vaccine passports might actually entrench vaccine hesitancy rather than encourage uptake, and argued that the government should be focusing on ramping up the vaccine rollout and improving Test and Protect rather than creating a new system.

The Scottish Conservatives have not yet indicated how they will vote, but a spokesman said earlier this week that the party was "sceptical" about the proposals and "firmly opposed to any plan that would introduce them permanently".

The party's leader, Douglas Ross, said it was not good enough that full details of the plan were only due to be published hours before the vote.

Speaking on Wednesday, he said: "We need specifics, but we don't have them. We don't know how the scheme will be administered or enforced, we don't know if the data concerns have been fixed or fraud risks been identified

"We don't know what infrastructure will be needed, or if the SNP will rule out extending them indefinitely or rolling them out to other venues at short notice."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
×