NICOLA Sturgeon was set to make her first visit to her parents last night – six weeks after an “emotional” interview about how much she missed them.
In an interview on Radio Clyde, the First Minister said giving her parents Robin and Joan a hug would be the first thing she did after lockdown ended, telling interviewer Ewen Cameron the thought made her “emotional”.
While social distancing is still in place, most Scots have been able to see family and friends one household at a time – while outdoors and in groups of no more than six from no more than two households – since the country entered phase one of the route map out of lockdown on May 29.
At the Scottish Government’s regular coronavirus briefing yesterday, Sturgeon told journalists the demands of her position meant she still hadn’t seen her own parents.
That’s despite living within a 45-minute drive of their North Ayrshire home.
However, she went on: “Assuming it doesn’t rain later on today I may this evening go to visit my mum and dad in their garden – socially distanced – as long as the rain doesn’t start.
“My mum is probably watching right now, which means I will not get the chance to wriggle off that particular commitment.”
It’s hoped that more Scots will be able to meet their loved ones from later this week when extra safeguards for those shielding from coronavirus are expected to be lifted.
In April, Joan Sturgeon revealed how her family’s experience “is just very much mirrored by every other parent in the country and beyond”, telling the Sunday Mail: “I’m very protective of Nicola and I just want to give her a hug.
“It’s how we all feel right now. Everybody’s in the same position.
“We worry about her. We worry about the burden that she carries, as any parent would.”
The former councillor – who said she does watch the daily coronavirus briefings – went on: “We are normal people in an abnormal situation. They are unprecedented times.”
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