By brendarobb

I see only the BBC Scotland web page headline names a politician within a negative framing, in Wales & N Ireland headlines are negative but no names initially, the England page has no story and the UK page headline has already moved on to how things could have been handled differently, letting them balance out the criticism of Boris Johnston’s government with the message that all 4 governments messed up. I’m sure when I muster the energy to read the full report there will be more nuance but a glance at the key findings summary (covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-2-in-brief-report/) it appears flawed. For example, in saying all 4 nations failed to act quickly enough and that health is a devolved issue surely the report ignores the financial restrictions on the devolved governments, their inability to borrow or make decisions to close borders etc. Of course this makes them “too reliant” on the UK, an argument for independence if ever I saw one.

From memory I believe that many individuals in public roles (health advisers, police, trade unions etc) spoke positively about the way the Scottish Government worked with them to plan responses – not an indication of a power hungry dictator keen to make all the decisions within a tightly controlled cabal. She also spoke almost daily to the nation to explain decisions, answer questions and to share info & advice. Phil Sim addressed this point in the BBC article saying “It also nods to the fact Sturgeon fronted 98% of Scottish government briefings broadcast to the public, suggesting that sharing the burden of communications would “reduce the risk of polarisation among members of the public”, no credit given for clear & consistent communication or the sheer hard work involved in researching, understanding and breaking down the info for the benefit of the public.

The BBC Scotland article states “There were frequent political spats between the Scottish and UK administrations during the pandemic, with both sides claiming the other was trying to further political arguments. Former Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove claimed that Scottish ministers occasionally viewed decisions “through a political lens” as to whether divergence from the UK approach would further the case for independence” but only N Ireland is singled out for decision making married by political disputes. Given this point was heavily pushed in the inquiry hearings by Gove, Jack etc al it would have been good to see the BBC highlighting what was said instead of this interpretation “The inquiry said it had found no evidence that either government “allowed political considerations to affect their pandemic-related decision-making”. However it said the relationship between Sturgeon and her UK counterparts was “poor”, and that neither side had done anything to improve it. It said the perception of political manoeuvring “hindered intergovernmental relations at a time when trust between the administrations was paramount”.

Also in the report summary we get “The complexity of regulations, localised restrictions and variations in rules across the four nations made it difficult for the public to understand what rules applied” Other countries with federal states managed this, possibly because they didn’t have to rely on a media which at times seemed hell bent on creating confusion and blurring distinctions. Maybe no-one can remember what FACTS stood for because it was criticised and mocked rather than being presented neutrally and reinforced by a responsible press keen to play their part in getting us through the pandemic. I think it was only in Scotland that opposition parties were regularly invited on to critique the Scottish Govt’s decisions, and eventually got the daily briefing stopped.