Why Sturgeon stokes division – Alex Cole-Hamilton

Nicola Sturgeon’s popularity seems to be making divisive politics irresistible to her at a time when our family of nations needs to be united in the fight against Covid, writes Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP.

Motorists driving north across the Scotland-England Border were met by protesters who swore at them (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

The sight of nationalist activists forming a blockade at the English border and swearing at motorists on the weekend was as embarrassing as it was inevitable.

I wrote last week that Nicola Sturgeon’s refusal to rule out a quarantine order on English travellers coming into Scotland was both unenforceable and highly divisive and sure enough it gave the green light to her wildest outriders to march on Gretna. I’m sure she didn’t welcome it, but the stunt was a symptom of an increasingly hostile approach to the UK Government she and her ministers have been adopting – and that needs to change.

In the foothills of the Covid-19 emergency, Nicola Sturgeon asked politicians of all parties to put aside our differences and work with her for the good of the nation. We did so without hesitancy. For the first weeks of the emergency, it appeared that our two governments were moving in unison. That was very welcome, it amplified the messaging and gave the public certainty in crisis. But in recent weeks she has laced her decisions and her public utterances with language which feels like it is designed to jar with or diverge from London for the sake of it.

You can see this in the debate in recent days over international travel. The UK Government had been asking Nicola Sturgeon to agree a list of ‘air-bridge’ countries where the virus is low enough that we can enjoy reciprocal travel arrangements. The First Minister dragged her feet, accused UK ministers of being “shambolic” and said for reasons of public health she wanted to assess the safety of the air-bridges first. The UK Government went ahead and announced the bridges for England.

Edinburgh Airport, which is in my constituency, were robust in their opposition to the delay, stating that the FM had been warned repeatedly of the damage this could do to Scottish tourism and the aviation industry. But the First Minister brushed this off saying people could wait a bit more time before visiting (or leaving) Scotland via these air bridges. What about someone choosing to fly in from Spain via Newcastle, she was asked at a press conference. “They will still have to quarantine for two weeks when they get to Scotland,” she replied.

A quarantine order is only as good as the enforcement you put behind it. If you’re asking travellers to nuke their trip to Scotland, by holing up in a hotel for a fortnight, you need to check in on them to make sure compliance. But this weekend, The Sunday Post revealed that not one spot check had been made on those meant to be self-isolating after arriving in Scotland though Scottish airports since the quarantine order began.

This revelation was made worse by the fact that Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, who is responsible for the checks, told the Parliament just two weeks ago that 20 per cent of such visitors were being routinely checked by public health officials. The explanation? Well apparently, Humza hadn’t been aware the checks (he was responsible for) weren’t happening and that this in turn was due to some data security delay that was the fault of the UK Government. Oh, really?

I’m not for a minute suggesting that UK ministers or officials have had a good pandemic, or that they have all the answers, they haven’t and they don’t. They’ve been equally childish in their dealings with Scotland, and sure enough, a reckoning will come for Boris and Cummings in the fullness of time. But we need our governments to work together right now.

Nicola Sturgeon has led the country from her lunchtime, Bute House pulpit to the point where her popularity seems unassailable and the polls are improving for independence.

I fear that this makes the urge to drive that wedge between our two governments still further almost irresistible for the First Minister. But this is a time when we need co-operation across this family of nations like never before.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is the Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh Western

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