OUT OF BOUNDS!
Government adviser’s bizarre claim that golf courses shouldn’t yet open – as it would be unfair to single mums
A KEY Scottish Government adviser yesterday sparked a bizarre lockdown row by claiming golf courses should not reopen because it would be unfair on ‘single-parent families ’.
As National Clinical Director, Jason Leitch has appeared alongside First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at many of her televised Covid-19 briefings.
However, during a radio show yesterday, he argued the ‘optics’ would be wrong if restrictions on leisure activities such as golf, tennis and fishing were loosened.
He suggested it would make the Government look bad if some groups of society were able to enjoy healthy, outdoor pursuits, when others cannot.
His comments are at odds with Scottish Government policy that all decisions on restrictions are based solely on science, suppressing the virus and protecting life.
During his regular appearance on light-hearted Radio Scotland sports show Off The Ball, he was asked: ‘Can tennis courts be reopened safely?’
The 51-year-old replied: ‘Not yet.
However, I think outdoor recreations like tennis, golf and angling will be some of the first things that come back. We are not there yet and the optics are part of it. We have single-parent families locked inside, so we need to be careful.’
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to announce plans to relax rules on going outside for exercise today.
However, that is expected to be around how often people can go out and for how long, not the activities people can take part in once they are outside.
The Government has come under increasing pressure to permit outdoor sporting activities that allow for social distancing, and can have a positive impact on physical and mental health. But Professor Leitch suggested this would not happen yet, partly because of the ‘optics’ of such a move – how it would be seen.
Last night, he faced criticism from across the political divide.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Just this weekend, we have seen the damage that mixed messages can cause.
‘The public want to see clarity and consistency of message, and that will be more important than ever as we move towards the lifting of the lockdown.
‘If the science suggests outdoor recreations can open then anyone would find it hard to understand if they remained closed.’
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘Reopening any facilities closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic should be a public health and safety-based decision, not a political one.
‘If local leisure hubs are to be allowed to open their doors again it must be because incontrovertible scientific evidence has proved that it is safe for them to do so.’
Professor Leitch has become one of the key government figures during the crisis, regularly appearing on radio and TV news programmes to update the public.
However, it is not the first time that his comments have attracted criticism during the virus crisis.
He was an early supporter of a herd immunity strategy, which would have required around twothirds of the population to be infected, before the virus subsided, and admitted he advised his wife to attend a Stereophonics gig, even as cases were on the rise.
He also initially tried to defend Dr Catherine Calderwood, the former Chief Medical Officer, after she was twice caught breaching lockdown measures to travel to her second home in Fife from Edinburgh – even after Ms Sturgeon and Dr Calderwood herself had admitted the breaches were indefensible.
On Off the Ball, yesterday, Professor Leitch was also asked how museums might be able to open. He replied: ‘Hand hygiene will be key, so sanitiser will have to be available, along with physical distancing, which shouldn’t be too difficult.
‘There will need to be less people visiting and workers may be protected by plastic screens like you see in the supermarkets.’
In response to another question on whether holiday flights might be taking off again by July 1, he replied: ‘I don’t expect that will be the case.’
Last night, the Scottish Government stressed its strategy was based on stopping the spread of the virus and saving lives – not ‘optics’ – and warned against the danger of mixed messaging.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We have always been clear that decisions relating to lockdown, or the easing of it, are reducing the spread of the virus and saving lives – we have also been clear that consistency and clarity of messaging is also very important.’
‘Public want clarity and consistency of message’