Why Scotland breaking out of ‘lockstep’ with UK may just save lives

If the UK Government ends restrictions too early, Scotland should not blindly follow, writes Laura Waddell

It makes it very difficult for opinion column writers when someone like Iain Duncan Smith says, during a pandemic which has claimed 30,000 lives in the UK, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ”. He was quoting late American President Franklin Roosevelt as part of an argument for ending lockdown, in an article in the Telegraph earlier this week. It’s difficult because the role we play is to fill a page with perspective and analysis. Of the thousand words I have at my disposal here, “idiot” is only one word, and even at that, one letter longer than the word that first came to mind.

But of course, it’s not just stupidity, is it? Tory valorisation of the economy above the well-being of citizens is baked into their DNA from filling to crust, stubbornly frozen in the centre. It’s a cliche, sure, but one born of death statistics filed under in the drawer marked Work and Pensions, and the experiences of ordinary people so often drowned out by jingoistic waffle. Cruelty doesn’t have to be over-intellectualised to get the full, blunt measure of it, and call it what it is. Money put before people.

Sending ordinary working people back to work too soon makes them fodder for an economy in which they are always at the bottom of the pyramid, no matter what state it is in. The recovery process will be hard no matter when things reopen.

I, like many others, have seen a hit to income. By rushing everything open again before the curve is firmly on the downturn, how many needless deaths will there be in service to industry and retail? In the eyes of those like Duncan Smith, the country’s economy doesn’t exist to serve the people, so much as it burns them up like fuel.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Tories are doing their bit for queen and country (whatever it is they imagine the UK to stand for) with the alliterative phrase “leave lockdown in lockstep”, demanding that Scotland be dragged along with the UK Government’s plans, no matter how rash they may be.

We are beginning to see teased, from behind the Telegraph paywall, a champing at the bit to get things going again.

It’s the most action that Alister Jack, the reticent Secretary of State for Scotland, has seen in his post so far. Someone was very pleased with themselves when they came up with the slogan, with its vaguely military whiff of boots and leather. So far UK strategy has marched its citizens to the worst death toll in Europe. But hup, hup, say the Scottish Tories. Get in file. Nothing for them is worse than the prospect of Scotland going its own way. That is the front they are fighting, and it always will be their first priority.

So why would Scotland adopt its own path, differing from the UK? Because if scientific information available to the Scottish Government suggests caution, Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear that is what Scotland will do. It would be a dereliction of duty to risk public health purely for the optics of a “united kingdom”. Yes, there will be some blurred lines around the Border, but with limited public movement throughout Scotland its impact should be limited.

Why, then, is pressure being put on Scotland to fall in line with the UK Government, not least by sellout Scottish Tories who’d pack their own coughing granny off to the mill? Shouldn’t the UK Government “lockstep” with a more cautious approach should it predict fewer deaths? This divergence is where criticism should be focused. If the