SNP’s aim to ‘destroy the UK’ drove its Covid response, says Gove
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The SNP response to the Covid pandemic was partly driven by its aim to “destroy the UK” and for political advantage, Michael Gove has told the Covid Inquiry.
The Levelling Up Secretary said it was “naive” not to be aware that “highly skilled politicians” might well “see political advantage” at certain points throughout the day-to-day management of the crisis.
Mr Gove, who was the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster during the pandemic and communicated with devolved administrations, said it was “undoubtedly the case” that people within the Scottish Government “were at certain moments looking at the political as well as the policy consequences of their choices”.
During the pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon’s nationalist government often made different decisions to the UK, such as keeping restrictions for longer or introducing different rules.
Giving evidence to the inquiry, which is sitting in Edinburgh, Mr Gove was asked whether the Scottish Government’s approach to managing the pandemic was “politically motivated”.
Jamie Dawson KC, the counsel to the inquiry, asked him whether there was a “completely dysfunctional” relationship between the UK and Scottish governments “at times”.
‘Desire for differentiation’
Mr Gove said he did not believe the Scottish Government’s approach was “politically motivated in everything” and their main focus was protecting the public, but added: “There are and were occasions when the Scottish Government, as we can see, was thinking politically.
“And of course it is the case that the SNP, as political mission, which is to achieve Scotland’s independence, i.e. to destroy the United Kingdom, and it would be naive to not be aware that highly skilled politicians, including those at the top of the Scottish Government, might well seek what they perceive to be political advantage at certain points.
“But I think it’s important to note that while that did happen at certain points, the day-to-day management of the pandemic preoccupied them as it did other ministers.”
The Levelling Up Secretary said some of the language used by Scottish Government officials had led him to believe there was a “desire for differentiation” from the UK Government.
He told the inquiry that the “temptation” at “certain points” to seek political advantage is “clearly there” with the Scottish Government, given the “cause to which they have devoted their lives [independence]”.
He said: “Some of the language used, the desire to have ‘a good old fashioned rammy with the UK Government’ and some of the other language used, which I shan’t repeat now, does lead me to believe that at that point there was a desire to pursue differentiation for the sake of advancing a political agenda.
“I want to take as balanced as an approach that I can, paying tribute to her [Nicola Sturgeon’s] energy and hard work in seeking to do what was right while at the same time acknowledging the SNP is a political movement with a clear goal and its members and its leadership have seldom missed an opportunity in other times to seek differentiation to advance their cause.”
‘Divisive nonsense’
The SNP spread “divisive nonsense” by implying that Scotland is more tolerant than England, said Mr Gove.
“I think obviously the Scottish Government pursued a slightly different approach, but... it is often asserted that there is a huge difference in values between people in Scotland and people in the rest of the United Kingdom, and my experience is that that is a nationalist myth and that people in Newcastle or or Liverpool or Manchester have the same values as people in Aberdeen or Broughty Ferry or Glasgow.
“But it is sometimes the case that the SNP and their supporters seek to suggest that there is something about the national community in Scotland that is somehow different, more compassionate, more tolerant, than people in England, and I think that is divisive nonsense.”
