Bleating about PM’s trip to Scotland does not make any sense

WHEN Boris Johnson visits a school, hospital, vaccination centre or factory somewhere in England, few raise a question about whether his journey is “essential.” When he flies north to Scotland, as he did yesterday, to check out a Glasgow laboratory where coronavirus tests are processed, the Scottish National Party piles in, accusing him of putting lives at risk when he should be “staying home.”

While the Scots may have a justifiable gripe against Boris Johnson and his pledge to deny them another vote on independence, criticising the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for visiting a part of the country for which he has responsibility simply does not stand up to scrutiny.

But, at the grubbier end of politics, conflating one issue with another and using it to beat an opponent about the head seems to be a growing tendency. From the very start of the pandemic, no one has seriously suggested that the PM or his senior cabinet colleagues should sit in their offices and never go out.

Aside from when they – or indeed Opposition spokesmen and women – have to isolate with symptoms or because they have been in contact with a confirmed Covid carrier, all our senior politicians need to be able to go about their business. Even Sir Keir Starmer, often ready to exploit coronavirus for political ends, agreed yesterday that the PM had the right to see what was happening in all parts of the UK.

So Nicola Sturgeon’s suggestion that Mr Johnson’s visit was “not essential” and that politicians “have a duty to lead by example” tells us more about her lack of judgement than it does about the PM’s absolute right to visit Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or anywhere else in the UK at this time, in a Covid-secure way.

The SNP is building strong support for its independence campaign. Success

seems pretty much guaranteed when the party faces voters to retain power at Holyrood in May this year. That, inevitably, will lead to growing calls for another chance at winning independence via an officially sanctioned referendum.

Mr Johnson’s visit to Scotland yesterday is, clearly, partly aimed at reminding the Scots of how much better Britain is as a United Kingdom, especially when it is fighting a terrible virus that has taken a huge toll, not just on our health but on our economic well-being too. As PM, he is entitled to make that plain. Indeed, he has a responsibility to the people of Scotland to do so.

There is a risk – and it is pretty much a risk that will be borne solely by the Scots – that they will get their referendum and they will vote to break away from the UK, with all the dire consequences that is likely to bring, north of the border.

Mr Johnson clearly wants to stop them from doing just that, not only because it would count as a failure for him as PM, but also because it would be bad for Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon will use every opportunity, including telling the PM he should “stay home”, to further her aims. She – and the people she represents – should be careful what they wish for.