ANAS Sarwar has said “we’ve got to accept that people make mistakes” after footage showed Nicola Sturgeon breaching Scotland’s Covid face mask law on the council election campaign trail.
The Scottish Labour leader was speaking on a tour of Lomond Shores in Balloch alongside deputy leader Jackie Baillie on Monday.
A video on social media showed Scotland’s First Minister not wearing a mask during a visit to a barbershop in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, on Saturday. At the time, the use of face masks in indoor settings was still a legal requirement.
On Monday, Sturgeon said she realised she had forgotten to put her face covering back on, which she then did “after a couple of seconds”. Police Scotland confirmed that officers have spoken to the First Minister about the matter, and no further action would be taken.
Sarwar said he can “understand people’s frustration and anger” over the footage, but said “mistakes do happen”.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon mask row is just a distraction from partygate
“The most important thing is how we encourage people to be doing the right things as we come into this next stage of the pandemic, where obviously face masks are no longer mandatory,” he said.
“Covid’s still here. People are still getting Covid-19. People are still sadly ending up in hospital with Covid-19. So I would encourage people to be cautious.”
The Scottish Conservatives have accused the First Minister of “blatant hypocrisy” over the event – but Sarwar pointed to a “big difference” between Sturgeon and the partygate scandal surrounding Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Sarwar said: “I can understand why some people will want to try and draw an equivalence.
“But the bottom line is that there’s a big difference between someone proactively organising parties in Downing Street when people are being forced to lock down, and someone not wearing a mask.
“That’s not for a second condoning it or saying that people shouldn’t be following the rules.
“But I can understand people will be angry. I can understand people will be frustrated. If people want to call on us getting rid of Nicola Sturgeon, there’s lots of other reasons for why we should get rid of Nicola Sturgeon.”
Sarwar also called on Douglas Ross to “get his own house in order” after the Scottish Tory leader suggested at his party’s manifesto launch on Thursday that Scottish Labour will “fail Unionist voters”.
Ross said Labour is putting up candidates in the upcoming local election who support a second independence referendum – claiming they will “ignore what the party leadership says”.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon releases statement on East Kilbride mask breach row
But the Scottish Labour leader hit back, saying: “I’m hearing of a number of Tory candidates who support independence, who’ve supported independence in the past.
“I think it’s a sign that Douglas Ross is getting more and more desperate. On one hand he’s saying the Labour Party doesn’t support the UK, and on the other hand he’s putting out graphics saying, ‘Make sure you give further down preferences to pro-UK parties.’
“I think this is probably more a desperate attempt for the Tories to stay second rather than for them to try and beat the SNP.”
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