THE Scottish Secretary has called for Nicola Sturgeon to be cut from the Government’s daily Covid-19 briefings, saying experts should replace her ahead of the Holyrood election.
Alister Jack said he did not question the need for the public to be informed about coronavirus, but told The Herald “there are medical officers who could do that quite adequately”.
Scottish Tories and Labour figures have long been unhappy with the frequency of the First Minister’s televised briefings.
Following concerns from Unionist politicians last autumn, the BBC said it would stop airing all of the conferences and instead show them based on “editorial merit”.
Within days the corporation backtracked and continued to show the programmes, albeit with added input from opposition politicians and public health experts on the BBC One broadcast.
Despite the briefings now including frequent commentary from the likes of Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, Jack argues it would give Sturgeon an unfair electoral advantage to continue presenting the update.
He did not call for Boris Johnson or other senior UK Government ministers to be axed from Downing Street’s televised briefings ahead of England’s local elections in May, however.
READ MORE: Covid in Scotland: BBC rejects FOI request on Nicola Sturgeon briefing complaints
Instead he praised Number 10’s briefings for involving “scientists and chief medical officers” – failing to mention that the Scottish briefings do this too.
In recent weeks the First Minister has been joined on stage by the chief medical officer, national clinical director, chief constable and chief nursing officer among others.
The Scottish Secretary said: “The pandemic has given the First Minister a platform. I point my finger directly at BBC Scotland for that.
“I don’t think all of the broadcasts they have given her have been around Covid issues. When the UK Government have done those, they have involved scientists and chief medical officers and, in terms of the vaccination, Army officers. That’s the right way [to do it], to allow the experts to speak. But this has been the Nicola Sturgeon Show and given her a platform.”
He went on to call on the BBC to review the broadcasts. “I have said this to the BBC and questioned, as we get closer to an election, if it is the right thing to do,” he said.
Earlier this week Jack defended Boris Johnson’s mid-pandemic trip to Scotland, describing the Prime Minister as an “absolute asset” to the Union.
READ MORE: SNP blast BBC's new 'biased' coronavirus briefing show
While some Unionists have called on Johnson to stay away from discussions on the future of the UK given polling showing he is fuelling calls for independence, Jack insisted: “I promise you his heart is absolutely on strengthening the Union and levelling up across the whole of the UK and he will focus on that and that will be for the good of the economy in all parts of the UK.
“He won’t be derailed from that agenda. He is an absolute asset. In all my dealings with him he is very clear what matters to him is the whole of the UK getting a fair share.”
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