Coronavirus set to do damage to the Union

Unionists are understandably bewildered. There could be no more vivid a demonstration of their argument about the benefits of pooling and sharing resources across the UK than the furlough scheme.

Yet support for independence has risen to unprecedented levels during a period when the UK Government has been keeping hundreds of thousands of Scots afloat financially.

Speaking on the BBC’S Andrew Marr show yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon attributed the surge in support for separation to voters seeing first-hand that they are being governed more effectively from Edinburgh than London.

The first minister has certainly shown impressive leadership during the pandemic. Her confident handling of daily press briefings has won her many admirers – even from Scots who would not consider themselves nationalists.

Critics claim the SNP leader’s strengths have merely been presentational and her management of the crisis on key issues like care homes and PPE has actually been little better than Boris Johnson’s.

Ms Sturgeon has often seemed to simply be following the prime minister’s example while moving at a slightly slower speed and talking in full sentences.

At a time of national emergency, the public desperately want to have faith in their political leaders. Ms Sturgeon has achieved this in a way Mr Johnson has not.

Coronavirus does not care about Scotland’s constitutional future. But it could still have a major impact on it.