MPs told: We’re not working together
THE coronavirus pandemic has had a “profound impact on devolution” and the relations between the UK and Scottish Governments, an investigation by MPs has found.
The Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has rung an alarm bell on the state of inter-governmental working after an inquiry that found the close co-ordination at the beginning of the pandemic fell apart into confusion around messaging and what guidance applied to which part of the UK.
The cross-party committee of MPs has rushed out an interim report calling for much greater transparency in cross-government working and demanding a reboot of the devolutionary policy machinery which has fallen into disuse.
Pete Wishart, chair of the committee, said the initial co-ordination between Scottish and the UK Government fell apart from the moment Boris Johnson decided on a different strategy to come out of lockdown.
Wishart said the overlapping responsibilities of policy areas such as health and transport operated by Westminster and Holyrood made inter-governmental communication absolutely critical in effectively controlling the spread of the virus.
He said: “This was the cornerstone of the ‘fournation’ approach that served so effectively at the start of the crisis.
“But as the focus has shifted from containment to opening-up the economy we are concerned that the structures that made this possible have stopped.”