NICOLA Sturgeon has accused Boris Johnson of tasteless “crowing” about the Union amid the coronavirus crisis on his visit to Scotland.
“I don’t think any of us should be championing and celebrating a pandemic that has taken thousands of lives as an example of the pre-existing political case want to make,” she said.
“None of us should be crowing about this pandemic in a political sense.”
The Prime Minister, who is in Orkney and Moray today, said the “sheer might of our Union” had helped maintain 900,000 jobs north of the border through the lockdown.
READ MORE: Politics LIVE: Boris Johnson hails Union as he lands in Orkney for Scotland visit
The UK Treasury has also given Holyrood an extra £4.6billion in emergency funding.
Asked at the daily briefing about the Prime Minister’s boasts, Ms Sturgeon said the ongoing tragedy deserved a “solemn” response from politicians response rather a “campaign visit”.
Rejecting his argument about the might of the Union helping with the response to Covid, she said the UK was borrowing to fund its spending and an independent Scotland could too.
She said it was only because Holyrood lacked significant borrowing powers that the money was coming from Westminster - money that Scots would help repay.
She said: “Some of the things he references are simply a feature of where power lies.
“If Scotland was an independent country then just like Ireland or any of the other small countries we’d be doing these things ourselves.
“In that sense I think it’s a bit of a redundant argument.
“On a more fundamental level, I just don’t think any of us should be championing and celebrating a pandemic that has taken thousands of lives as some example of the pre-existing political case want to make.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon has no plans to meet Boris Johnson if he visits Scotland
“This has been a heart-breaking crisis that we’re not out of yet, that too many people have died, and all of us have a really, really solemn responsibility to focus on and to get our countres through.
“That’s what I’m going to continue to do - take the decisions that I think are best for Scotland in all of the circumstances we face.
“Campaigning right now is not my priority. Boris Johnson has every right to be on a campaign visit to Scotland today.
“In his shoes, it’s not how I would be choosing to spend my time given what we are facing tight now.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson in Scotland: First pictures emerge of Prime Minister in Orkney
“People can make up their own minds about these things, and can make up their own minds about where they think the decisions we’re having to take right now are best taken.
“None of us should be crowing about this pandemic in a political sense, is my honest opinion.”
She also said she would be happy to meet Mr Johnson in Edinburgh if he took a detour on his way back to London to give him tips on tackling Covid through an elimination strategy.
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