The simple facts that reveal the extent to which the SNP Government better protected us against Covid deaths despite the delay in devolving responsibility and Johnson’s callous inertia – saving thousands

By Professor John Robertson OBA

I’m grateful to @amaccj for reminding me of this and for the link to the source.

When the final assessment is made, we need to set the scene with these facts:

  1. The World Health Organisation had pressed the panic button warning national governments to act on the 30th of January 2020.1
  2. Throughout February and March PM Johnson missed 5 Cobra meetings which discussed the need for a response.2 Pandemic response was still a reserved matter to the UK Government.
  3. In the first week of March, FM Sturgeon called for an immediate lockdown but PM Johnson refused in the interests of business.3
  4. PM Johnson reluctantly called the first UK lockdown on 23 March 2020.4
  5. The pandemic response strategy was devolved to Scotland on 25 March 2020. 5

Two years later, in February 2022, as the pandemic receded, the simple consequences in terms of mortality in different parts of the UK can be see in this table from the UK Covid 19 Inquiry report6:

Other than the isolated South-west of England, Scotland had the lowest mortality rate of the 4 nations, even lower than Northern Ireland sheltered by its sea gap.

15% more died in Wales, suggesting a further 2 000 Scots might have died had their pandemic experience been managed by the Welsh Labour Government.

18% more died in England, suggesting a further 2 400 Scots might have died had their pandemic experience been managed by the UK Conservative Government.

How do we explain this? Faster and longer shutdowns; greater trust in FM Sturgeon’s guidance and consequent greater compliance with face masks and higher vaccination levels; quicker care home vaccinations after Health Secretary Freeman accelerated this, contrary to the UK strategy; more frequent care home inspections in the period prior to the pandemic?

Sources:

  1. https://www.who.int/news/item/27-04-2020-who-timeline—covid-19
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/19/michael-gove-fails-to-deny-pm-missed-five-coronavirus-cobra-meetings
  3. https://x.com/pjwoodside/status/1271449299721883649
  4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-impact-of-covid-19-lockdowns-on-crime-demand-and-charge-volumes/the-impact-of-covid-19-lockdowns-on-crime-demand-and-charge-volumes-in-england-and-wales#:~:text=23%2F03%2F2020,buying%20food%20or%20medical%20reasons).
  5. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/coronavirus-act-2020
  6. https://t.co/vHHPbEUoY3

The OBA – https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116

7 thoughts on “The simple facts that reveal the extent to which the SNP Government better protected us against Covid deaths despite the delay in devolving responsibility and Johnson’s callous inertia – saving thousands”

  1. With the amount of pensioners and people near pension age the UK Goverment has saved Billions in NOT paying out OAP pensions , care , and medical costs. Where has all that money went to.

    Liked by 3 people

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  2. As well as better outcomes compared to the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government set up a review of social services in 2020. It’s final report was published in 3 February 2021. In the ‘Executive Summary’ it says –

    https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-review-adult-social-care-scotland/

    “We won’t achieve the potential of social care support in Scotland without a new delivery system. We need a National Care Service to achieve the consistency that people deserve, to drive national improvements where they are required, to ensure strategic integration with the National Health Service, to set national standards, terms and conditions, and to bring national oversight and accountability to a vital part of Scotland’s social fabric. The National Care Service will bring together everyone with a role to play in planning and providing social care support to achieve a common purpose.”

    Why has it not been implemented?

    Opposition parties and unions playing politics.

    Liked by 3 people

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  4. Johnson was entirely the wrong sort to lead any country, but with an incoming pandemic he was positively dangerous.

    No matter how the powers that be try to re-write history, what I witnessed from afar was an individual even more detached from everybody else’s reality as the current crop of Tories – When SG outshone his Downing St circus, he set out to ruthlessly destroy them via ‘the old boys network’ of the media, for that is all his type know to do.

    His type live and breathe ‘the old boys network’, a mafia with tentacles in every corner of UK politics, business and the media… All you need consider is what qualities and experience an individual brings to a Ministerial post to realise that even in this day and age, it’s not what you know but whom you know which matters in the UK, the public will believe everything we say….

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. When Johnson and his pals had even a whiff of pandemic about to create havoc, all they saw in front of their eyes, were pound signs, big pound signs. They acted negligently, they allowed people to die, delayed taking responsibile actions to reduce the terrible effects of
    COVID on the population. Absolutely criminal. On top of that Johnson politicised the situation when it came to the Scottish government, deliberately holding Nicola Sturgeon back from being able to manage the situation in Scotland at the start. What a disgrace, and what a waste of money in having the investigation with the lying troughers bumbling their way through questions as if it was a joke. Still, many Tories and their dodgy pals benefitted hugely, thieving public money, making themselves even richer. No doubt some Labour MPs
    took advantage as well, cashing in on a tragedy.
    Scotland get the heck away from these greedy, self serving criminals, pronto.

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. In 2020 the ‘flu was rebranded as COVID 19 which is why ‘flu almost disappeared from the statistics to be replaced by COVID. This rebranding has happened before as it is standard business practice when sales are falling.

    It is staggering so many people have missed this blindingly obvious fact.

    The deception gave those in the Tory government the opportunity to fleece the taxpayers again, but few MP’s of any party came out smelling of roses.

    Scotland fell for the scam just like England, Wales and Northern Ireland. FM Sturgeon was a complete moron, joining the other morons at Westminster.

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