EVER since Boris Johnson decided to lift all Covid restrictions in England the British nationalist right have been desperate to bounce Scotland and Wales into doing the same - they cannot countenance the Scottish and Welsh governments taking different decisions from Downing Street.
It does not matter what the circumstances are, nor what the independent scientific advice says. When the Conservative government in Westminster makes a decision, the British nationalist mindset dictates that Scotland and Wales must meekly follow.
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This might be tolerable if Johnson's decision to lift all Covid restrictions and mitigation measures in England was arrived at after a careful consideration of the scientific and medical advice, and was made by a Prime Minister who throughout the pandemic had demonstrated that his over-riding concern was public health, but neither of those things are the case.
It's not just that Johnson has displayed a casual disregard for lockdown rules, ever since the pandemic started he has shown an immense reluctance to introduce any public health measures which he fears might be unpopular with the right-wing press and the frothing commentators on the G Beebies news channel.
This is the man who yelled in a profanity-laced tirade that he would rather let the bodies pile high in their thousands before he would consider new lockdown restrictions. It is safe to say that Johnson does not have the public's health and well-being front and foremost in his considerations.
Given Johnson's recent difficulties with the allegations of multiple lockdown busting parties in Downing Street and the threat to his premiership from disgruntled backbench Tory MPs, it is not unreasonable to suspect that his headline-grabbing decision to lift all Covid measures in England has little to do with what is best for public health and everything to do with currying favour with the right-wing Conservative backbenchers who hold his fate in their hands.
Although most people are now fully vaccinated and the Omicron variant which is currently dominant does not seem to cause as serious an illness as previous variants, we are not out of the woods yet. People are still at risk, particularly those like myself who have other health issues.
I for one do not welcome the prospect of being put at increased risk of becoming infected with Covid just so that Boris Johnson can rescue himself from the political difficulties ensuing from his own entitled and rule-breaking behaviour. So it is welcome news that the First Minister is refusing to bow to the pressure from the British nationalist right and is not following Johnson's lead.
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In Scotland, the Covid measures are being loosened but not abolished entirely. It will still remain the official guidance to wear face coverings in public places but this will no longer be legally enforceable. The Scottish Covid passport scheme is to come to an end. In England the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive test will end from February 24, and free testing for the general public will be ended from April 1.
In a major divergence from Johnson, the Scottish Government will continue to advise people who test positive for Covid to isolate for the recommended period. Scotland will continue to make self-isolation support payments available to those who are eligible, even though these will be abolished in England.
Scotland will also continue to provide free lateral flow tests and PCR tests although these will no longer be free of charge in England.
Because of the way funding works for Holyrood, Scotland will no longer receive Barnett funding for free Covid tests or payments for those self-isolating. This will have to be funded by making savings elsewhere in the Scottish Budget. Although Scotland can mitigate the reckless decisions of an irresponsible Prime Minister, we are all still going to have to foot the bill.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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