A kingdom divided over Covid freedom
As England plans to ditch all curbs, Scots could keep rules for months
MINISTERS are pushing for a ‘big bang’ lifting of Covid restrictions across the UK this month amid fears different rules in Scotland and Wales will fuel ‘confusion and division’.
Whitehall sources said talks had been opened with the devolved administrations in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast about coordinating the lifting of coronavirus rules.
Boris Johnson announced this week the government is on course to lift all remaining Covid restrictions a month early, with February 24 pencilled in as ‘Covid Freedom Day’.
The Scottish government gave a hostile reaction to the Prime Minister’s decision yesterday, with health minister Humza Yousaf describing it as ‘an attempt to distract and deflect scru
‘It may take them a while to catch up’
tiny over the Prime Minister’s behaviour’. the SNP extended Covid powers in Scotland this month for a further six months, with deputy first minister John Swinney saying it was ‘necessary to retain the availability of these baseline measures while we review our ongoing response to Covid’.
A Whitehall source said the Prime Minister was keen to see measures lifted in a co-ordinated way but acknowledged Scotland and Wales may decide to drag their feet.
‘There are discussions with the devolved administrations and ideally we would align things as much as possible,’ the source said.
‘It would be frustrating if we had parts of the country continuing with restrictions for an extended period – it would be confusing and divisive for people.
‘But we have to accept that they have always been overly cautious. they are behind us and it may take them some time to catch up.’ David Jones, a former Welsh secretary, also urged Cardiff to follow London’s lead.
Mr Jones said: ‘it is very positive news that the Prime Minister is ending the restrictions and moving to a long term strategy for living with Covid.
‘But it is important that we have a UK-wide approach on this – i would not want to see Wales left behind, with all the inconvenience and damage that would bring.’
Craig Hoy, a tory member of the Scottish Parliament, urged nicola Sturgeon to follow suit.
Miss Sturgeon yesterday said regulations requiring children to wear masks in the classroom will finally be lifted after half term.
But a document on the future of other restrictions due later this month is expected to be much less ambitious than the one planned in London, in which even the requirement to self-isolate after testing positive will be scrapped.
Mr Hoy said: ‘We have to learn to live with Covid too. We ought to start to see the system as it is in England and rely on the good sense of the population.’
Covid figures continued to fall yesterday, with new cases down by 25 per cent in the last week.
But some scientists questioned the decision to lift all restrictions at this point.
Professor tim Spector, who runs the Zoe Covid Study at King’s College London, described the move as an ‘act of irresponsibility’. He told times Radio: ‘this is more a political type of statement rather than a scientific one. it’s clearly a race for the government to say Britain is the first to come out of this, Britain has conquered Omicron, our booster programme is world-beating.’
He added despite hospital admissions and death figures being down, data from the Office for national Statistics and the Zoe app show the country is still at more than 200,000 cases a day.
He added: ‘it’s definitely not over and to suddenly give the wrong message… is totally wrong.’