THE trade union representing senior civil servants has welcomed the First Minister’s comments defending officials from public attack.
Allan Sampson, FDA national officer for Scotland, spoke out after a number of attacks on the National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch. It came as reports saying people around the Prime Minister were lining up “fall guys” among civil servants ahead of a public inquiry into the handing of the pandemic.
“We welcome comments from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon regarding recent press criticism of civil servants,” he said.
“It is wholly unfair for civil servants to face these kinds of attacks within the press when they are unable to respond publicly, especially when such reports come from anonymous sources."
READ MORE: Boris Johnson lining up civil servants to take blame for coronavirus response
He added: “Civil servants advise, ministers decide, so any criticism should be directed towards politicians who are accountable for decision-making and able to respond.
“Politicians across the UK should be standing up for the dedicated public servants doing incredible work in response to Covid-19 throughout our four nations.”
The First Minister came to the defence of Leitch on Monday saying he was doing “a very good job” and described attacks on officials as “invidious”.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon hits out at 'invidious' criticism of Jason Leitch
She said: “If anyone has criticisms to make they should make them of the elected politicians because we firstly are accountable and are in a better position if we find those criticisms unfair or not well founded, we can answer back.
"I think there is something really invidious about a politician in particular attacking a clinical director or official who is there to offer advice.
“Politicians decide and we should be subjected to scrutiny and, where it’s justified, we should be subjected to criticism.”
Over the weekend reports emerged of tensions between Boris Johnson and head of the civil service Sir Mark Sedwill over the pandemic strategy.
Sources were quoted as saying that ministers “were not such fans of Sedwill”.
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