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FEWER than one in five Scots fully understand the pandemic rules restricting our freedoms, it emerged last night.

A major social study by London university UCL showed just 18 per cent of people feel they are on top of the laws and regulations, which have changed repeatedly since full lockdown.

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Sturgeon is to make another announcement today
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Sturgeon is to make another announcement today
Most Scots say they don't understand the rules
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Most Scots say they don't understand the rulesCredit: Alamy Live News

The findings - from research over the past fortnight - came ahead of Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement today on a new five “tier” system, due to kick in from November 2 UCL found a drop in understanding from July, when 27 per cent said they fully understood the rules in the weeks after restrictions began to be relaxed in phases.

Meanwhile, just 66 per cent - or two-thirds - of Scots said this month that they understood the rules at all, down, from 75 per cent in July.


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Scotland had slightly higher rates of people saying they fully understood rules than other parts of Britain, with Wales on 15 per cent and England 13 per cent.

But study author Dr Daisy Fancourt said understanding had “dropped markedly” since the strict lockdown ended, and it was vital for policy makers to ensure rules “are as simple to understand and follow as possible”.

She said: “As well as this potentially leading to people breaking rules they don’t fully understand, confusing messages or unclear communication could result in people disengaging from trying to keep abreast of restrictions, which could well lead to lower compliance in the long term.

“These developments are especially worrying at a time when the number of cases continues to climb.”

 

It comes as Nicola Sturgeon is set to make an announcement today on the planned tiered restrictions.

The First Minister revealed schools will stay OPEN, even in the top level, as far as possible - and travel restrictions will also be part of the new system.

The restrictions will come into play next month.

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