In a report on the BBC Scotland website today, with a carefully chosen image to connect Covid outcomes to the SNP leader at the time, this:

The impact on Scotland

In Scotland to date, more than 18,000 people have died with Covid and ONS (Office for National Statistics ) analysis suggests death rates were very similar in Scotland and England and slightly better in Wales and Northern Ireland.

The question the UK Covid inquiry will ask is did the different decisions in Scotland have any real impact on the virus, for better or worse?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67985184

This is patently inaccurate and an attempt to weaken the fairly popular notion that the SNP in government and, in particular its leader, saved lives in Scotland by their actions during the pandemic. The ONS data:

The death rate in Labour Wales was highest at 383.9 per 100 000 population.

In England, it was 342.3.

For Scotland, it was 332 and for Northern Ireland, protected by the Irish sea, 289.7.

For Ireland, with full control of pandemic measures from the outset (Scotland only got powers three months late), it was 177.

So, that difference of 10 per 100 000 between Scotland and England means 540 lives saved in Scotland and 5 400 lost in England.

The gap may be far wider.

See this Channel 4 fact check:

The UK government often states that the national death toll only covers those who have died in hospital, but this rule is only strictly true of England.

The governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have all told FactCheck that they include deaths of people who have tested positive and died outside hospital – which might include private health homes – in the figures which they submit to Whitehall.

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-can-we-trust-the-covid-19-death-toll

The above suggests clearly that the English figures are significantly under-reported.