BORIS Johnson used his first appearance before the Liaison Committee this afternoon to take a jab at Scotland’s First Minister.
The Prime Minister, who is being grilled by the MPs for 90 minutes today, was asked by Tory MP Stephen Crabb whether he regrets not fighting Covid-19 all as one centralised UK or has found benefits to the four nations taking different approaches.
Responding, Johnson celebrated what he saw as co-operation between the four nations but failed to state which measures had taken place in England vs Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Little over two weeks ago the Prime Minister announced in a televised address to the UK that certain lockdown measures would be eased in England – including people being able to travel as far as they wish for exercise, changing the Stay at Home message to “Stay Alert” and getting people who can’t work from home to return to their workplaces.
Johnson also said schools in England would go back from June 1.
Meanwhile in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, stricter measures have remained in place since, and schools are not set to go back until August.
READ MORE: Covid-19: Sarah Smith apologises for Nicola Sturgeon claim
The Scottish Government is due to announce whether the strict lockdown can be eased tomorrow, nearly three weeks on from the Prime Minister’s easing of measures south of the Border.
However the Tory leader suggested that the leaders of the devolved nations, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, had overplayed these differences to the lockdowns.
Johnson told Crabb: “We also brought in some relaxations on exercise and people’s ability to travel to take exercise.”
Crabb reminded the PM: “Only in England, only in England.”
READ MORE: Philippa Whitford slams 'bizarre' lockdown row on Newsnight
Johnson smiled and continued: “And I was struck with the congruous, rather than the disparity. It sort of always suits those who have a separatist, or an agenda to break up the UK, when in fact the unity has been much more conspicuous than you might believe.”
Last week during a BBC News at Ten segment the broadcaster’s Scotland editor Sarah Smith said the First Minister had “enjoyed” making different decisions to Westminster during the crisis – but later said the use of language was a mistake and she had meant “embraced”.
In response Sturgeon said she had never enjoyed anything less in her political career than the crisis which has claimed thousands of lives in Scotland.
She also reminded BBC’s Newsnight earlier in the week that the crisis is not a constitutional issue when the programme focused on how Scotland’s different approach to the lockdown could impact its political future.
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