Update: FIVE REASONS why the ‘PPE discrimination against Scotland’ reports are NOT rubbish!

BBC Scotland and the Herald, predictably, leaped gleefully on the apparent rebuttal of the story that UK PPE suppliers were refusing to deliver to Scottish care homes because English ones had the greater need, but before they could sit down, everything changed again.

In the morning Jason Leitch had provided them with the headline they so wanted but by midday his boss, the FM, was saying something quite different. She said they would be investigating the claims and, ominously:

‘Any situation where supplies were being diverted from one part of the UK to the other without consultation or any sense of co-operation would clearly be unconscionable and unacceptable.’ 

Remembering the words of Dominic Raab, yesterday, reassuring his English audience that his government was doing its best to make sure that, explicitly English care homes, were getting the equipment they needed, I smelled the casual contempt.

At the time, all we had were Dr Macaskill’s words but we now have more, much more.

First, the First Minister clearly knows that Leitch spoke too soon. She knows something.

Second, Matt Hancock has cancelled his meeting with Jeane Freeman, with no explanation, after she messaged him to warn him that he could not unilaterally divert supplies of this kind as there is a UK-wide agreement.

Third, we have the horrific tsunami of death in the latest ONS statistics for England and Wales, for just last week. Raab and Hancock knew these were coming and like the Tory schoolboys they are, they panicked and reverted to the bullying they remember from their schooldays.

Fourth, we have this astonishing revelation in the Times at 12 noon today:

Major manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) are refusing to send supplies to Scotland because they are prioritising England. The global supply chain is under severe pressure as countries try to protect their frontline health and care workers during the pandemic. Gompels, which is based in Melksham, Wiltshire, has said that it will not supply Scotland or Wales under a contract that it holds with Public Health England. “You must be registered and operating within England — apologies to Wales and Scotland, we are told you have different processes for getting emergency supplies,” its website states.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-in-scotland-ppe-manufacturers-put-england-first-gqdcsxzb3

The First Minister’s advisors will have told her about this just before she came on at 12.30.

And fifth we have Hancock agreeing to change his ‘plans.’

9 thoughts on “Update: FIVE REASONS why the ‘PPE discrimination against Scotland’ reports are NOT rubbish!”

  6. Again it will not have escaped notice that on ‘Journalists’ questions in the UK Briefing this evening the only one who did not get an opportuunity for a ‘come back’ was the women from STV who posed that very question albeit rather clumsily.

    On a side yet equally important issue I wonder if any questions tomorrow to the FM will get a reaction to the severe economic ‘hit’ projected by the OBR and whether that took account of the economic ‘hit’ expected from Brexit let alone a no deal Brexit to Scotland’s economy.

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    1. re- the economic hit, the one that is unavoidable and that will occur across the world, let’s not forget this from the Fraser of Allender Institute (FAI) posted BTL some days ago on TUSC.

      Source: https://fraserofallander.org/fai-publications/fraser-economic-commentary/unprecedented-challenges-to-come-for-the-scottish-economy-and-whilst-economy-will-recover-long-term-structural-challenges-starting-to-emerge/

      Picking up on the theme of resilience, the FAI report asks: “One immediate question is how resilient is our (Scotland’s) economy to coping with a downturn (and possibly a severe downturn)?” It offers this assurance: “…. we have A STRONG AND ROBUST ECONOMY IN SCOTLAND ..”

      In making sensible, cautionary statements about the prospects for economic recovery, the FAI report reminds us of the conditions under which Scotland’s economy has been operating in the lead up to the pandemic:

      “The crisis comes on the back of THREE AND A HALF YEARS OF BREXIT UNCERTAINTY, which has STALLED INVESTMENT and ERODED CONFIDENCE. UK growth in 2019 was just 1.4%, the slowest rate of growth since the financial crisis.”

      Who caused Brexit?

      And then:

      “… unlike recoveries from previous recessions, the performance of both the Scottish and UK economies since the 2008-09 financial crisis has been – at best – weak. Flatlining productivity, coupled with A PERIOD OF AUSTERITY, has led to a decade of fragile growth.”

      Who caused austerity?

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  7. I listened to the Jason Leitch interview where he says that “we” talked to the companies involved and colleagues in NHS England, and then goes on to rubbish the story. Whether he did these checks himself, or delegated the task, it is now clear that he was wrong.

    I think that he owes a public apology to Dr Macaskill, to the Scottish Government, and everyone who has been trying to establish the truth of how political pressure was put on these companies. Single handedly, he has supplied
    just the badly informed line that has been used to damage legitimate concerns expressed by the FM and others. Whatever evidence is produced just gets the response “. . . but Jason Leitch” from Andrew Neil downwards – or should that be upwards.

    If he can’t make an effort to clear up the mess he has made here, and adapt to operating in a political environment, he should keep his public pronouncements to clinical advice, or “consider his position.”.

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