Virus victory shows the power of unity

NICOLA Sturgeon never seems to tire of lecturing others on proper conduct in politics.

Yet her latest attempt to link Covid-19 to the independence question is the sort of politics for which she would readily lambast an opponent.

For the past year, we have been treated to regular soliloquies from the First Minister on how the pandemic was her sole priority and how personally distressing it all was for her.

So if it is now proper for her to speculate on the political impact of a pandemic, it is also proper to remind her of her government’s impact.

The unheeded warnings about a lack of pandemic preparedness. The failure to address health officials’ concerns about low PPE stocks long before Covid-19 entered our lives.

The 900 elderly patients transferred to care homes before routine testing was adopted and the more than 3,000 care home deaths since in which Covid was cited on the death certificate.

If it is proper for her to retail her government’s response, it is proper to ask where that response would have been without the almost £10billion in extra funding from the UK Government.

Without the vaccine procured thanks to the deep pockets and negotiating strength of Whitehall. Without the UK Armed Forces, who helped vaccinate Scots even as her government missed its own jabs target.

And if it is proper for her to use the pandemic to impugn one constitutional preference, it is also proper to question another.

If she had her way, Scotland would have been outside the UK, lumped with a yawning deficit and forced to depend on the shambolic EU vaccine scheme. The UK has administered 55 vaccine doses for every 100 residents.

France, with a similar population, has administered 18.

It is understandable, therefore, that the Prime Minister feels the need to make the positive case for our United Kingdom response.

After all, our vaccine programme has been a four-nation success story.

We trust his efforts will focus on how the past year has shown the power of solidarity in times of struggle.

If only the First Minister could find it in her to pursue unity instead of division.