Jackie Baillie yesterday knowingly, I’m sure, twists the truth of PPE supplies during the pandemic to blame the SNP for the sins of the UK Government as it tried to reserve PPE supplies, paid for by all across the UK, just for English care homes, in a desperate attempt to head of the storm of death they faced. She also omits to remind us of the failures of the privately owned care homes in Scotland, under-resourcing PPE themselves and underpaying staff so that those infected were unable to afford to stay at home.
15 July 2026, The Times had the above and BBC Health had:
The lives of NHS staff and patients were put at risk in the pandemic because of a lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), with almost £10bn of taxpayers’ money wasted in a scramble to buy more, the Covid inquiry has said.
The chair Baroness Hallett criticised the “vast” waste in procurement, put at £9.9bn – two-thirds of the £14.9bn the government spent on PPE.
The UK entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a perilous state and was unprepared for the global race to secure supplies, she added. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrxrlydyzzo
BBC Scotland TV and radio broadcasts shared these findings but did not remind us of this from March 2025:
This is a shocking revelation of how, when the going got tough, Scotland did not benefit from the Union but, rather, was actively harmed by it.
The above short video is a must watch and share for any who doubt the true nature of Scotland’s position in the UK.
Nearly 5 years before we knew this but the ‘Scottish’ media tried to hide it:
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 knew that Leitch spoke too soon. She knew something.
Second, Matt Hancock had 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
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