NICOLA Sturgeon has urged journalists to be clear that Boris Johnson’s easing of coronavirus lockdown rules applies only to England.
The First Minister also hit out at the Prime Minister for giving a “misleading impression” on how wide-ranging his roadmap out of coronavirus is.
During his TV address on Sunday night, Johnson failed to mention that his plans to get people back to work and out of the house more, applied only to England.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon made “a respectful plea” to the press, urging them to “make it clear to your readers, listeners and viewers what the actual situation is in different parts of the UK”.
She added: “Moving at different speeds and different parts of the UK for good evidence based reasons need not be a cause for confusion.
“Other countries are also taking different steps in different areas at different teams. Confusion only arises if we as politicians and the media who report on us are either unclear in what we are asking people to do, or if we give a misleading impression, even by omission, that decisions that apply to one nation, only actually UK wide.
“Never has the duty on political leaders to communicate clearly been greater. And in the provision of basic public health information I hope the media will continue, as most of you have been doing already, to appreciate the importance of that too.
“This matters to all of us. If we do see continued high compliance with these restrictions in Scotland for a bit longer we will continue to slow the spread of this virus, we will protect the NHS and we will save lives, and we will all move more quickly to the day that these restrictions start to be eased.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Why I will continue to ask Scotland to Stay at Home
The Prime Minister unveiled a series of updates to his strategy in a pre-recorded speech from Downing Street at 7pm last night.
He unveiled the UK Government’s new slogan urging the country to ‘Stay Alert to Control the Virus and Save Lives’ – phrasing that ditches the ‘Stay At Home’ message used since lockdown began in March.
In what he called “a change of emphasis” the Prime Minister said that “anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work”. He also said some primary school pupils could return by June 1 “at the earliest” while there are plans for the “phased reopening” of shops at the same time.
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