Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
City MSP reveals Sturgeon’s stress
FORMER Scottish Health Secretary Shona Robison has told the Tele that daily briefings announcing the death toll from Covid-19 are putting personal strain on the first minster.
Speaking exclusively to the Tele in a video interview, Dundee City East MSP Ms Robison said she could “see in Nicola Sturgeon’s face” how difficult it was for her to announce the daily number of deaths linked to coronavirus.
Ms Robison was health secretary between November 2014 and June 2018.
She said: “(Health secretary Jeane Freeman) has an incredibly difficult job, as has the first minister. They are having to make some very difficult judgments, and yes, that’s based on a lot of expert advice, but they have to apply judgment to that.
“I think the weight of that responsibility must weigh very heavily with the whole of the government, but particularly the first minister and health secretary.
“(It’s) not easy at all, and, of course, every day, you’ll have seen it for yourself in the daily briefings.
“I think, one of the most difficult things, to be honest, is to tell the public about how many people have died in the last 24 hours. And you can see that in Nicola’s face.
“It’s not easy, personally, to do that, and she always reminds us that behind every statistic is a person that was loved, who have family.”
She went on to praise the workers risking their own health to provide care during the pandemic, and the “cruelty” of people being unable attend funerals of loved ones due to social distancing.
She said: “Everybody is working very hard. Obviously the folk on the front line have got the toughest gig, but it won’t be easy for those in a position of having to make decisions – that’s a big responsibility.”