Nationalists ‘exploiting Covid deaths for Indyref’
NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ‘exploiting deaths’ during the Covid pandemic in her bid for independence.
In his strongest attack on the First Minister to date, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said her approach had been ‘shameful’ and ‘her failings cost lives’.
Scotland is about to hit the grim milestone of 10,000 Covid deaths in just over a year.
Along with the rest of the UK, it has one of the highest death rates per population in the world.
However, Ms Sturgeon’s personal approval rating has remained strong throughout the pandemic, and she is basing her election campaign on the ‘strong leadership’ she has shown in the past year.
Mr Ross said Ms Sturgeon was guilty of failures on shielding, testing, personal protective equipment (PPE), care homes, contact tracing and disinformation.
He said: ‘This week we will likely pass 10,000 deaths from Covid.
‘In this election we’re seeing the SNP exploiting those deaths and using the pandemic to drive votes for a divisive referendum.
‘It’s even more galling when the truth is that Nicola Sturgeon didn’t handle this pandemic any better than others. The SNP have built a false reputation based on spin. Her failings cost lives, especially in care homes where vulnerable people were left unprotected.’
Ms Sturgeon has resisted calls for an inquiry into her Government’s handling of the pandemic to take place before the election.
Officials have also sought to make changes to a report by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland, after objecting to the description of ‘shortages’ in PPE for NHS and care staff.
Mr Ross said: ‘Grieving families still don’t have answers because of the SNP’s obsession with secrecy.
‘They didn’t help people shielding enough, they failed to sort testing and tracing out, and PPE supplies were slow to reach the frontline. It’s not a record anyone should be proud of.’
The Scottish Tories allege six key failings by Ms Sturgeon’s Government exacerbated the devastation of the pandemic. They said there was confusion on how many people should be shielding, with the numbers ranging from 120,000 to 200,000.
They also accused the SNP of missing targets for testing 65,000 people a day. On PPE, they highlighted a letter by thousands of care workers last April saying they ‘do not feel safe at work’.
There have been more 3,000 deaths in care homes since the start of the pandemic, and concerns were raised when it emerged hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid had still been transferred back to care homes.
The SNP was also accused of secrecy over a Covid outbreak at a
‘Vulnerable people were left unprotected’ ‘Grieving families still don’t have answers’
Nike conference in Edinburgh in February of last year.
The Scottish Tories accused the SNP administration of being guilty of ‘disinformation’, citing a letter from the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) on Ms Sturgeon’s claim that virus levels were five times lower in Scotland than England, which the UKSA said relied on sources that did not ‘allow for a quantified and uncaveated comparison of the kind made’.
Last night, an SNP spokesman said: ‘This is desperate stuff from the Tory leader. It is only with both votes SNP that people can secure the leadership needed to get us through and out of the pandemic.’