UK and Scottish Government's failed to prepare for pandemic says new report

A new report concludes both the UK and Scottish governments failed to adequately prepare for a pandemic.
Scottish and UK Governments failed to prepare for pandemicScottish and UK Governments failed to prepare for pandemic
Scottish and UK Governments failed to prepare for pandemic

The study by Scientists for Labour states that years of cuts to social services and healthcare spending made it harder to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.

It also finds that both governments failed to enact social distancing early enough and struggled to get PPE to the frontline or get testing kits and tracing teams in place.

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The report criticises ‘unnecessary antagonism’ between Westminster and Holyrood, ‘which has made it unnecessarily difficult to coordinate pandemic response across the United Kingdom’ and ‘undermined public trust’.

A ‘Silver Swan’ dossier produced for the Scottish Government four years ago - leaked to the media in recent days – is referenced, which flagged up gaps in social care, PPE and storage for ‘mass fatalities’.

READ MORE: Covid in care homes ‘is the worst failure of devolution’The report does, however, acknowledge greater transparency around some of the scientific advice from the Scottish Government, more consistent messaging, and a more cautious approach to easing lockdown ‘in line with what the best available evidence suggests should be taking place at the moment’.Scientists for Labour is a socialist society affiliated to the Labour Party. Report authors are Daniel A. Villar, a behavioural ecologist at the University of St Andrews, Juan Ignacio Rubio Gorrochategui who worked on healthcare policy for the European Commission, chemist Soryia Siddique, and former MP for East Lothian, Martin Whitfield, who sits on the Scientists for Labour executive committee.

Daniel A. Villar said: “Overall, there has been a remarkable consistency between the approach of the Holyrood government and the Westminster government both in how they have tackled this pandemic, and how they failed to adequately prepare.

“Policy developers should have been aware of the risks in our care homes and the dangers of not stock piling PPE.

“Policy makers should have called out the cutting of resources in pandemic preparation, the result of which we are seeing now.”

Labour MP Ian Murray, Shadow Scottish Secretary, said: “This report is welcome at a time when the four nations should be working together and without the political antagonism that we see.

“The failure to prepare for a pandemic is the responsibility of Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson.

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“The warnings were there in the Silver Swan report in 2016, and this is now affecting our response to COVID-19. There has been a failure by politicians to act on their own commissioned reports.

“What we need now is for both governments to work closer together in the interests of everyone in every part of the UK.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This report supports the approach to lifting lockdown outlined this week by the First Minister, saying that it ‘is in line with the best available evidence’.

“In terms of preparation, we – like governments around the world – have had to respond rapidly to the emergence of an entirely new public health threat.

“We have taken the urgent action needed to combat Covid-19 by expanding our intensive care capacity and implementing the lockdown measures still in place across Scotland – we have also ramped up testing, expanded supplies of PPE and are in the process of recruiting contact tracers for our Test and Protect strategy.

“The claims made on spending are simply wrong – the reality is that under this administration health spending has risen to record high levels, increasing by over 60 per cent since 2007, with a budget of over £15 billion in 2020/21, with frontline NHS spending in Scotland more than £100 per person higher than in England.”

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