Nicola surrounds herself with Yes men (and women) says academic

NICOLA Sturgeon’s desire to surround herself with ‘acolytes’ has hampered Scotland’s coronavirus response, a leading academic has claimed.

James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University, questioned whether ministers had ‘sufficient expertise to draw on’ when making decisions about the pandemic.

He said a lack of confidence in considering a wide range of expert advice may have left the Scottish Government feeling ‘it had no choice but to fall back on the advice of London’, especially during the early weeks of the crisis.

Praising the First Minister for her ‘exceptional communication skills, (and) a capacity for hard work’, he said she is ‘almost invariably on top of her brief’. But he said she did not tolerate dissent and ran a centralised government.

‘She prefers to surround herself with acolytes. This speaks of an insecurity hidden by her formidable communication skills,’ Professor Mitchell said.

His comments were made in an article for the Sceptical Scot website.

He added: ‘Questions need to be asked about the flow of information to the First Minister, especially in the early weeks of the crisis. The issue was not that she did not listen to or process information from specialist advisers but this raises questions about the information she was receiving.

‘Nicola Sturgeon is a very cautious politician, all the more remarkable given her party’s radical constitutional platform. This innate caution may explain why the Scottish Government followed UK policy in the early days.’

The Scottish Government set up a Covid-19 advisory group to supply information and guidance to ministers. It held its first meeting on March 6, three days after lockdown was announced.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘At all times, the Scottish Government’s actions have been guided by the best and most up-to-date expert scientific and medical advice, working closely with Governments across the UK.’

He added: ‘As the First Minister has previously said, the Scottish Government will not hesitate to do things differently if that is in the best interests of tackling the virus here in Scotland.’