Sturgeon calls on Johnson to stress UK rules ‘do not apply’
SCOTLAND’S First Minister has said it is “incumbent” on the Prime Minister to clarify that his easing of coronavirus restrictions only applies to England.
Boris Johnson outlined how a number of lockdown measures were being relaxed in a national broadcast yesterday.
This includes staff in certain non-essential sectors being encouraged to work, an ability to sunbathe in parks and a “road map” to the hospitality industry potentially opening up in July.
However, these remarks only apply to England as the Scottish Government has control over which restrictions are in place north of the Border.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “It’s just a statement of fact and of the law, that with the exception of Boris Johnson’s comments about border control, pretty much everything he said in his statement applied to England.
“My job is to take decisions based on the data for Scotland and my judgment now in the immediate term – that with the one exception I outlined today that people can now exercise outside as often as they want as long as they can comply by the social distancing rules – the way to suppress this virus now is to continue to stay at home, except for exercise, foods and medicine or if you’re doing essential work that you can’t do from home.”
Sturgeon was also asked whether Johnson’s referral to himself as the UK Prime Minister would make “life difficult” in letting the public know which restrictions remain in place in Scotland.
She said: “These restrictions are legally in place separately in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and therefore we have a duty to take decisions in our own jurisdictions about the speed at which we lift those.
“I think it is incumbent on him, perhaps a bit more strongly than he did tonight, to stress that when he is talking about lifting these restrictions, he is talking for England.”
Sturgeon also reinforced the “stay at home” message after the UK Government moved to a “stay alert” message.
She said: “We really all of us have such a duty right now to be as clear as possible and I think, having just watched the Prime Minister, I think there is perhaps still some room for just simpler, clearer messages.”
It was also revealed by the First Minister that the R number – which is the rate of transmission – was between 0.7 and 1.
Speaking earlier at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said she “remained committed” to working with the other nations of the UK on the virus.
The First Minister said that the other nations of the UK should not be hearing about plans through the newspapers.
Reports surfaced on Saturday night that the slogan “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” would be dropped in favour of “stay alert, control the virus, save lives”.
In a tweet yesterday morning, the First Minister said she was made aware of the change through Sunday newspapers.
She said: “What does make a four-nations approach more difficult to sustain is if decisions are being taken and, even inadvertently, being taken as UK decisions when they are not without proper consultation.”
Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has said she has “no idea” what “stay alert” means.
The First Minister asked the UK Government not to deploy the new messaging in Scotland, and said their communications departments are currently in discussions.