THE UK Government claimed responsibility for Scotland’s work fighting Covid-19 as Boris Johnson visited this morning.
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, told the BBC that the Prime Minister is in charge and devolved governments are just “part of the decisions we were making”.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have lower coronavirus death rates than England, and since lockdown was implemented at the end of March the four nations have moved away from the initial “four-nations” approach.
The Scottish Government has been praised for its handling of the crisis. Polls have shown Holyrood and the First Minister are more trusted than Westminster by the Scottish public when it comes to the pandemic.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson claims ‘Union has never been stronger’ ahead of Scottish visit
According to public health expert Devi Sridhar, who advises the Scottish Government on its response to the crisis, Scotland is “weeks away” from eliminating coronavirus – but she has warned achieving this would require the co-operation of England, which is currently much further off achieving elimination.
Lewis was asked why England’s death rate has come down at a slower rate than Scotland’s during a BBC interview this morning.
He responded: "The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Cabinet of the United Kingdom is in charge of the Government of the United Kingdom.
"What we've done through the coronavirus, we have seen different parts of the UK, different parts of England as well, have had different levels of how the virus has spread – the number of deaths has varied around the four nations but also within England as well, and parts of those four nations. Norfolk has been very low, Northern Ireland too - that's why devolution has worked so well.
"I can only work on what I actually see in practice, and if I look through how we've dealt with coronavirus throughout the period [the devolved administrations] were part of the decisions we were making at Cobra, they were done together as the UK with the devolved authorities, their ministers were part of daily meetings – these things were being done as the UK."
Last month Health Secretary Jeane Freeman expressed concern over the lack of Cobra meetings the UK Government was holding.
Speaking to the Scottish Affairs Committee, she said she “can’t understand” why no meeting had been put on since May 10.
READ MORE: Jeane Freeman 'can't understand' why no Cobra meeting has occurred since May 10
The Welsh first minister has also expressed disappointment over his lack of communication with the Prime Minister during the Covid-19 crisis.
Lewis went on: "I'm saying we made decisions together as the UK, we also respected the devolved authorities' rights as part of devolution to look at where they had these devolved powers to use them in the way that was right for their local areas.
"Going into lockdown, we all went into lockdown basically at the same time, as we'e come out there's been that flexibility around the devolved areas to ease lockdown in a way that's been right for each of those nations of the United Kingdom. I think that was the right thing to do."
Sridhar has previously pointed to three key areas in which the Scottish Government differed from the UK.
Explaining what Holyrood had “got right” in its virus response, she said: “The first would be we had a lockdown that lasted longer. We were generally two to three weeks behind, so we still have had the Stay at Home message, most people cannot travel more than five miles outside of where they live.
“The second was going immediately for local tracing, and not relying on an app – using local public health boards.
READ MORE: Devi Sridhar explains 'what Scotland got right' in Covid-19 fight
“And the third was trust in government. There’s a very high level of trust in government and compliance with measures and that’s what I’ve been quite amazed about.”
Johnson is in Scotland today as ministers are said to be in “panic mode” over rising support for Scottish independence and the First Minister.
The Tory leader's approval ratings have plummeted throughout the crisis while Sturgeon’s have increased – there is currently a 99% difference between their rankings, according to recent polls.
The Prime Minister will promote the Union during his trip. He argued last night that despite 54% support for independence it is “stronger than ever”.
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