Former FM’s plea to rally together to help defeat virus

Aformer first minister has called on the country to leave political “bickering” aside and rally behind Scotland’s current leader as part of efforts in the “war” on coronavirus.

Former Scottish Labour leader Henry McLeish also said blaming students for the uptick in positive cases in Scotland was pointless, adding everyone should be brought together to stem the pandemic.

Mr McLeish called on Scotland to “rally together” to avoid the “chaos” erupting in England, which he claimed was a result of Prime Mi n i s t e r Boris Johnson losing control of the war on the virus.

He said: “We are fighting a war against the coronavirus. It is a much-used phrase but we have to hang together.

“These are challenging times and if there was an easy way forward we would have found it.

“We are creeping forward and we have to bear in mind some solutions will work, others won’t.

“In town centres and at train stations, you see some people wearing masks, some who don’t – and some of those might have underlying conditions not to – but we have to cut across political differences.

“I would appeal to everybody to take very seriously indeed the voice of the first minister.

“This is not a time for too much bickering over politics.

“The parliament has an absolute right and duty to scrutinise and I would urge the first minister to involve party leaders as much as possible to av o i d the emerging chaos happening in England.”

He continued: “I don’t think the UK Government is truly focused on this war and is caught up in distractions like Brexit, which could be left to a later date.

“Boris Johnson is in danger of losing control over the virus, and from critical groups he needs support of, including backbenchers.”

On students, the former MP for Central Fife said: “We need their help. We need to treat students seriously and enlist them in this particular war.

“I completely support what Ms Sturgeon has said about hospitality, but we need to be aware they are facing unprecedented problems and are making sacrifices.”

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Dean Lockhart said: “We agree that politicians of every stripe, from the UK and Scottish Governments, should be fully focused on fighting Covid and suppressing the virus to save lives.

“As a result, we expect Henry McLeish will call for the Scottish Government to drop their Referendum Bill and take the threat off a second independence referendum completely off the table.

“The Scott ish Conservatives have been clear that it’s unacceptable to push for independence in the middle of a pandemic.”

RALLYING CALL: Henry McLeish says Scots should put political bickering aside to win the “war” against coronavirus.