JACKSON Carlaw has written to the First Minister asking her to explain why she chose not to replicate the UK Government’s new coronavirus strategy – but was swiftly shot down on social media.
Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the first ministers of Wales and Northern Ireland, has said that she will continue to issue "stay at home" advice.
Boris Johnson last night unveiled his “stay alert” strategy, which was condemned as “vague and imprecise” by the FM.
Although devolved administrations were not consulted on the updated strategy, Carlaw writes that the UK Government has vowed to “work in close cooperation with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure a UK-wide response: coherent, coordinated and comprehensive”.
The Scottish Tory leader goes on to request that the Scottish Government publishes a more detailed explanation its decision, including data on the R number, which Sturgeon says is too high to ease lockdown measures.
Explaining the rationale in her column in today’s National, the FM writes: “The rate of transmission of the virus in Scotland – the so-called R number – is still too high for any significant change to be safe at this stage. Indeed, the R number may be slightly higher in Scotland than in other parts of the UK.
"That means we must be very careful – we must not squander the progress made by easing up too soon or by sending mixed messages that result in people thinking they can ease up now.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Why I will continue to ask Scotland to Stay at Home
Sturgeon has stated that the R number is believed to lie between 0.7 and 1.
Carlaw also asks what conclusions have been drawn from workplaces and schools that have remained open and for a timeframe for when “Scotland will be able to undertake the additional cautious steps being progressed elsewhere”.
I‘ve written to Nicola Sturgeon asking her to publish daily what evidence she is using as the basis for her different approach.
— Jackson Carlaw MSP (@Jackson_Carlaw) May 11, 2020
We can’t have weeks go by where she asserts a position without the detailed reasons for it being revealed.
The public deserve to know the facts.
👇👇 pic.twitter.com/IxjhBN1KCy
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon pleads with media not to confuse England with whole of UK
However, SNP politicians pointed out that the Scottish Tory leader would be better served asking questions of Westminster instead of Holyrood.
MP Pete Wishart replied: “Have you written to the Prime Minister asking why, and on what basis, he unilaterally decided to abandon a 4 nations approach?”
Colleague Stewart McDonald added: “Sophistry of the worst kind. The person who opted for a 'different approach' – a charitable way of putting it – was Boris Johnson. Nobody else.”
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