THERE is “no evidence” to support Boris Johnson’s plan to scrap all remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England, Angus Robertson has said.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution and Culture told The National that the Scottish cabinet are due to meet on Tuesday to discuss its response to the announcement from the Prime Minister.

Robertson said that the Scottish Government is “led by science” and will try to make “balanced decisions”.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson's Covid plan could leave Scotland 'driving blind', health expert warns

It comes as the Prime Minister told the House of Commons that all remaining Covid rules will be scrapped on Thursday - including the legal requirement to self isolate if you test positive for the virus. 

We previously told how First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it will be "catastrophic" if the UK Government refuses to provide extra cash to support the Covid-19 testing scheme.

Speaking to The National, Robertson said Johnson’s plan for "Living with Covid" doesn’t stack up.

He said: “The Scottish Government cabinet will be meeting tomorrow where we will be discussing the right response in Scotland, I’ve not seen any evidence that supports the UK Prime Minister’s course of action.

“In Scotland we’re led by the science and by the advice and trying to get the best balance between public safety and lifting restrictions that we all want to see, but we’ll be doing so responsibly and be doing so on the basis of science and the best advice we can get.”

The National:

Robertson said there was no evidence to support the PM's plan

Asked if he believes the UK Government’s actions are reckless, Robertson added: “I’ve not seen any evidence to support what the UK Government’s doing and I don’t think that’s the best way to make important decisions.”

It comes as Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the UK has a “wall of immunity now” thanks to the vaccines “but the decision about when and how to reduce restrictions is enormously difficult”.

He said the benefits of restrictions are obvious in “reducing chains of transmission, the risks of people getting infected, the burden on the health system”, but the harms of restrictions are harder to assess.

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He added: “They include things, just from a health perspective, like the impact on hospitals of having staff self-isolating, the inability to perform operations, there will be surgery cancelled today that may be critical for people because of staff who are off work during that period; the impact on education, on the workplace and the economy.

“The impacts on the economy and mental health will have longer-term consequences. So if we could find a measure that brings all of that together, we could work out the exact right moment (for lifting restrictions).”

Pollard said “there isn’t a right or wrong answer to this because we don’t have a measure that helps us get there”.

The National:

Robertson said the Scottish cabinet will meet on Tuesday 

However, Professor Robert West, a health psychologist from University College London and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights group on Behaviours (Spi-B) which feeds into Sage, told Times Radio he thinks the Government has moved to “abdicate its own responsibility for looking after its population”.

Speaking in a personal capacity, he said one in 20 people has Covid-19 and 150 people are dying each day.

He said: “It looks as though what the Government has said is that it accepts that the country is going to have to live with somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 Covid deaths a year and isn’t really going to do anything about it.

“Now that seems to me to be irresponsible.”