MICHAEL Gove has repeatedly declined to say how many people in England’s care homes have received the Covid vaccination, despite attacking the speed of Scotland’s jag roll-out.

The SNP said that the top Tory's attempts "to play politics with Covid backfired spectacularly".

The Cabinet Office Minister was speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS) in the wake of Alister Jack writing to the First Minister to offer Westminster’s help with the vaccine roll-out.

The Scottish Secretary said the UK Government stood ready to help “accelerate” the vaccine programme north of the Border.

However, the Scottish Government said that their roll-out had achieved “greater depth in the programme than in England”.

READ MORE: Jason Leitch: Scottish Covid jag roll-out followed 'person-centred' approach

Holyrood has also stressed that the Scottish programme has followed the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority list. This suggests completing the roll-out to the most vulnerable, such as care home residents, first.

However, rolling out the vaccines to care homes and to over-80s through their local GP practices, as the Scottish Government has done, is more time intensive than using mass vaccination centres, as has been the case south of the Border.

National clinical director Jason Leitch said the Scottish approach has been more “person-centred”.

The National: Scotland will be using mass vaccination centres more widely as less vulnerable groups are given the Covid jagScotland will be using mass vaccination centres more widely as less vulnerable groups are given the Covid jag

READ MORE: Boris Johnson visited Scots vaccine lab despite being warned of Covid outbreak

Appearing on GMS this morning, Gove was challenged to provide the number of English care home residents who had been vaccinated, rather than comparing overall population stats.

Gove answered: “I think it is the case isn’t it that we’ve seen a significantly higher proportion of people across England than in other parts of the United Kingdom vaccinated.”

Pushed to provide the number of jags which had “gone into people’s arms” in English care homes, Gove went on: “It is the case that, as Jason Leitch has acknowledged and I think everyone knows that the overall number of vaccinations has been lower as a percentage in Scotland.”

READ MORE: Alister Jack offers Nicola Sturgeon Westminster's help with vaccine roll-out

Again Gove was pushed to provide the figure in question, with the BBC presenter highlighting that, in Scotland, more than 95% of care home residents had been given the vaccine. This is a different statistic to the UK Government claim that 100% of residents in England have been “offered” the jag.

The Cabinet Office Minister said: “It is the case that every care home resident in England has been offered the vaccine.

“It is also the case that every part of the United Kingdom is following the JCVI recommendations. And it is also the case that in Scotland fewer people have been vaccinated so far than in the rest of the UK.”

SNP MP Stewart Hosie said the minister had been "shifty and evasive" in his answers.

The National:

The BBC host echoed Jason Leitch, who yesterday said that when comparing progress in the pandemic between Scotland and England, it depends entirely on which “league table” you use as reference.

Professor Leitch said: “Our prevalence is half of the English prevalence. Our mortality is two-thirds of the English mortality. So it depends which league table you want to demonstrate.”

The BBC host added that Scotland had half the English infection rate and a lower number of care home deaths in January, according to ONS figures.

In reply, Gove stressed the UK Government’s involvement in procuring the vaccine and “investment in science”. He also praised the NHS and the British armed forces.

READ MORE: Michael Gove's wife Sarah Vine backs UK Government 'plot to slash cash for Scotland'

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was then challenged on Boris Johnson’s visit to the Valneva laboratory in Livingston.

It was today revealed that Johnson’s visit took place despite Downing Street having been told of a coronavirus outbreak at the site.

Gove denied the trip was “reckless”, saying it was “Covid-secure and safe”. He insisted there was “absolutely no risk to anyone” as a consequence of the Prime Minister’s visit, despite 14 Covid cases having been confirmed on the site just 24 hours prior.

Hosie, the SNP's shadow Cabinet Office spokeperson, said: “The attempts by Michael Gove to play politics with Covid backfired spectacularly today. In trying to score cheap points about the vaccine roll-out, he was shifty and evasive about his own government’s performance.

“Even when it was pointed out that over 95% of Scotland’s care home residents have actually been vaccinated, he remained unwilling or unable to say what the corresponding figure was elsewhere.

“Michael Gove and his Tory government colleagues must listen more and talk less; stop trying to politicise the Covid vaccination programme and simply support those brilliant NHS staff and others who are working at full speed to make Scotland safe from this virus.”