WHEN the UK entered the first full lockdown a year ago, the order to stay at home issued by Boris Johnson applied across all four nations.
“I am not going to sugar-coat it in any way,” said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. “Coronavirus is the biggest challenge of our lifetime.”
As the Covid-19 crisis progressed, how England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland responded to that challenge was to increasingly diverge.
Health was already a devolved issue, but the Coronavirus Act 2020, which came into force on March 25, gave new powers to the Scottish Government to act independently of the English authorities and take action in other areas, for example to temporarily close schools.
On April 16, both the UK and Scottish government announced the extension of lockdown – which had been originally planned for three weeks.
But the timings of how restrictions were eased over the summer months subsequently varied across the four nations.
For example, while garden centres – the first non-essential retail outlets to reopen – were operating again from May 12 in Wales and May 13 in England, it was not until May 29 that they reopened in Scotland.
Two people from different households could meet outdoors in England from May 13, but in Scotland this was not allowed until May 29.
Behind the scenes, there was a decline in the frequency of meetings between the UK and devolved governments.
Between late March and early May, ministers from the devolved nations attended five ministerial implementation groups (MIGs) which had been established to look at the response to Covid on an almost daily basis.
But a report from the Institute for Government think tank published last October noted: “In late May, the UK Government moved away from the MIG structure, reportedly without consultation with the devolved administrations, and established two new cabinet committees to replace them: one on Covid-19 strategy and the other on Covid-19 operations.
“The structures broadly replicate the model used for Brexit No-Deal preparations in late 2019. “However, unlike the EU Exit Operations Committee, ministers from the devolved administrations have not been invited to attend.”
Unionists have argued only the “broad shoulders” of the UK could have seen the country through the pandemic, which saw the introduction of support schemes such as furlough.
But that has not been reflected in opinion polls, with 20 surveys carried out between August 2020 and February 2021 showing majority support for independence.
Scotland’s First Minister has been ahead of her rivals in terms of popularity during the crisis. In the most recent poll published last week, Sturgeon scored a 27-point approval rating, despite the ongoing headlines over the inquiry into handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond. In contrast, Johnson scored minus 35 and Labour leader Keir Starmer was on minus 11.
A year of the pandemic has changed the face of politics forever – but perhaps not in the way some may have predicted. The ability of Scotland to go its own way has placed devolution in the spotlight like never before.
In just a few weeks’ time, voters will decide whether they buy the argument that only being in the Union will enable recovery from Covid – or whether Scotland will have a different, more prosperous future under independence.
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