Nicola Sturgeon urges Boris Johnson to cancel Scotland visit as journey 'not essential'

Nicola Sturgeon has urged Boris Johnson to cancel his visit to Scotland on Thursday, arguing the trip is not "essential" and could encourage people to break Covid travel restrictions.

Ms Sturgeon insisted the Prime Minister was "not unwelcome" and she was not telling him to "stay away", but made it clear she did not think his visit could be justified within the coronavirus rules.

Speaking at her daily Covid briefing, the First Minister said: "Boris Johnson travelling from London to wherever in Scotland" did not meet the "essential" benchmark needed to carry out such a journey.

She said political leaders have a "duty to lead by example" and the test that should be applied was not "things I would like to do right now."

Ms Sturgeon rejected the argument that Mr Johnson has an important figurehead role to play highlighting progress on vaccine development and rollout in the UK to boost public morale.

But Downing Street said it is a "fundamental part" of the Prime Minister's job description to be the UK Government's "physical representative" and to make himself "visible and accessible."

Earlier this month, Mr Johnson visited Oxford Biomedica to witness the manufacturing process of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. It is thought he could also visit a vaccination centre, highlighting the UK Government handing over almost a million doses to Ms Sturgeon's SNP administration to distribute to Scots.

The Prime Minister hit out at the SNP's "dithering and delay" over the vaccine rollout north of the Border, which is lagging far behind England's.

Ms Sturgeon also faced questions over the conduct of one of her own MPs, Kenny MacAskill, after it emerged he made two 340-mile round trips between his East Lothian constituency and his second home in Moray. She said she had asked SNP whips to provide her with an explanation for the trips by the former Scottish Justice Secretary.

The SNP said the MP was living in Moray but had made the journeys for two medical-related appointments.

The public are currently not allowed to leave home except for essential reasons such as work that cannot be done from home.

Ms Sturgeon's government twice tried to dissuade the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from visiting Scotland during their UK train tour to thank those who have gone "above and beyond" during the pandemic. However, the trip went ahead as planned, with the Cambridges arriving in Edinburgh, their first stop, on December 7.

Asked about the Prime Minister's visit, Ms Sturgeon said she was "not ecstatic" as the rules must "apply to all of us" and argued that the country's leaders travelling means "it gets harder to convince other people" to follow the rules.

"When we are telling other people not to travel when it's not really, really, really essential, then we have an obligation to subject ourselves to the same rigour," she said. "I would say me traveling from Edinburgh to Aberdeen to visit a vaccination centre right now is not essential.

"If we are asking other people to abide by this, it is probably incumbent on us to do likewise."

Asked about the Prime Minister's traditional figurehead role in national crises, she insisted the "barometer" was whether the journey was "really, really, really, really essential".

A Downing Street spokesman said: "It's a fundamental role of the Prime Minister to be the physical representative of the UK Government. It's right that he's visible and accessible to communities and businesses and the public across all parts of the UK, especially during this pandemic."