THE Scottish Tories have continued their criticism of the Scottish Government's televised coronavirus briefings, claiming that "the BBC shouldn’t be indulging" Nicola Sturgeon in "SNP party political broadcasts".
The party has said that based on its own research, the First Minister uses the public health broadcasts, which started off as daily but have been cut to three per week, "to make political criticism and promote SNP policy", and that they have become "political point-scoring" opportunities against the UK Government.
The UK Government scrapped its own televised briefings last month. They had already been the subject of controversy over actions such as the standing down of England's chief nursing officer Ruth May after disagreeing with Dominic Cummings' rule-breaking trip to Durham during lockdown.
Citing "seven examples" of political point-scoring in the Scottish briefings, the Tories pointed to comments from Sturgeon on issues including the Russia report, England's "stay alert" slogan and the Scotland-England border.
The party failed to acknowledge, however, that these topics were discussed in response to questions put forward by journalists, while the First Minister has often pointed out that the objective of the briefings is to discuss Covid-19 and public health as opposed to making political statements.
READ MORE: Unionists attack BBC for broadcasting Nicola Sturgeon's Covid briefings
It has already been suggested that the UK Government has “fears” about the briefings after recent polls suggested an increase in support for Scottish independence as a result of Sturgeon's handling of the pandemic, while Boris Johnson's approval ratings have dropped.
Leader Jackson Carlaw has now called for the BBC to refuse "to give her the airtime", stating: “It was quite right for the First Minister to embark on these daily briefings at the outset of this crisis, and for them to continue in the months that followed.
“But increasingly, as the statistics have improved and there’s inevitably less to say about them, the First Minister has turned to political point-scoring.
“This analysis shows how what starts with a daily data update soon descends into an SNP party political broadcast.
“She shouldn’t be doing that, and the BBC shouldn’t be indulging it.
“Either Nicola Sturgeon reverts to this being purely a factual event, or the corporation takes a stand and refuses to give her the airtime.”
It comes after Carlaw was branded "pathetic" for his claims by the Justice Secretary yesterday.
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Humza Yousaf tweeted: “Imagine in any other country political opposition trying to stop leader of the Government giving daily public health information in the midst of a global pandemic. And also taking (often challenging) questions from the press.
“How absolutely pathetic and petty minded are this lot?”
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie also wrote a letter of complaint to BBC Scotland on the amount of airtime the SNP is getting as a result of the briefings in the run-up to a Holyrood election.
A BBC Scotland spokesman commented yesterday: “We are broadcasting Scottish Government briefings on the pandemic and the easing of lockdown because these are matters of significant public interest.
“While cases of infection may be decreasing from their peak during the pandemic, there remains a valid editorial justification for reporting public health information and asking questions on new developments, such as the recent clusters in the borders and Lanarkshire.
“The briefings in Scotland are covered on BBC One — which has also been the case when the UK and Welsh governments have held briefings. Viewing figures indicate there is a continuing audience need and appetite for information on the crisis, with an average daily combined audience of 275,000 for the briefings on both BBC One Scotland and the BBC Scotland channel.”
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