COVID ADVISER IN NEW ROW OVER SNP SUPPORT
ONE of Nicola Sturgeon’s top Covid advisers has been criticised after claiming that an independent Scotland would have been better able to battle the pandemic.
Devi Sridhar, left, professor of global public health at Edinburgh University, said Scotland’s response to the crisis had been ‘constrained’ by being part of the UK.
She also praised Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘remarkable’ leadership and handling of the pandemic – and claimed the Covid strategy in England had lacked the Scottish Government’s ‘clarity of vision’.
It is the latest in a series of interventions that have sparked concern over Professor Sridhar’s impartiality in a key advisory role.
In a podcast interview for Holyrood magazine, she was asked if she thought different decisions would have been taken in an independent Scotland under Miss Sturgeon. She replied: ‘Yes, definitely.’
She said those decisions would likely have led to a different outcome, with lower rates of death. She added: ‘I think, yes, we could have hopefully been more like a Norway or a Denmark.’
Claiming ‘there are constraints’ on Scotland, she also said: ‘I think it is really hard because we’re not getting the support that we require to be able to go the full way we want to go.
‘It’s hard because, I think, you saw in the summer the talks about elimination and zero Covid, clear focus on getting numbers low.
‘We never saw that clarity of vision from England.’
Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron: ‘As we continue to fight the pandemic the public don’t expect senior public health advisers to be wading into divisive political arguments.
‘Devi Sridhar has previous form for making her own views known when she should be remaining impartial at all times. Every time she offers a political opinion, it diminishes her professional opinion.’
On Miss Sturgeon’s performance, Professor Sridhar said: ‘I do feel much safer right now being in Scotland, knowing there’s a leader in charge who takes the health of the public incredibly seriously, takes her job really seriously and is hard-working.
‘I think across the political spectrum… in daily life anyone I speak to, regardless of what they believe or what party they support, has said that she [Miss Sturgeon] has done a remarkable job.’
Professor Sridhar has been attacked on Twitter for what have been seen as pro-SNP views. Last year, she appeared to block MSPs including Tory Murdo Fraser and Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton from following her on Twitter. She also apologised after labelling Unionists ‘anti-Scottish’.
A spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Professor Sridhar is an independent academic and, as should hardly need to be said in a democracy, is free to speak her mind on any issue.’
Professor Sridhar declined to comment further.