UK Government to release shared Covid-19 plan with Holyrood

Michael Gove has revealed the UK Government and all devolved administrations are to release a shared statement on the next steps in tackling Covid-19, but has refused to confirm whether it will contain a pledge to eliminate coronavirus.

The Cabinet Secretary was in Scotland yesterday to meet hospitality businesses in Alness, as part of a UK government push to underline the Treasury support Scotland has received throughout the pandemic, and said the governments of the four nations had been “working well” together despite what he called “political noises 
off”.

Mr Gove also defended the Prime Minister’s visit to Scotland last week and said it was not motivated by opinion polls showing rising and sustained support for Scottish independence. Boris Johnson was heavily criticised by Nicola Sturgeon for “championing the union” through a trip to Orkney and Lossiemouth where he spoke of the “sheer heft” of the UK.

However Mr Gove said the prospect of a second referendum was not on his “horizon”. “My own view is that we should put politics aside in order to concentrate on fighting the virus and defending public health.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

“The Prime Minister’s visit last week was like any other he’d make to any part of the UK. He was emphasising that the UK Treasury has taken the steps to protect jobs and to support livelihoods that all of us would like to see and whether you’re in Kirkwall or in England you are a beneficiary of the strength of the UK Treasury and its capacity to borrow at attractive rates and to maintain the economic stability which is good for all of us.

“The Prime Minister also referred to the additional powers the Scottish Parliament will be getting at the end of the year. So far from it being a political visit it was a visit from the UK Prime Minister to a part of our UK as a way of emphasising we strongly support devolution and by the end of this year Holyrood will be in a stronger position with more powers.”

Mr Gove refused to be drawn about how the UK government could refuse a request for a second independence referendum if the SNP won a majority at next year’s Holyrood elections. “It’s a good question, but it’s a hypothetical one and at the moment I’m concentrating on doing my very best to help Scotland’s economy and citizens cope with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and build back stronger, and my horizons at the moment don’t extend much beyond making sure we do the very best job we can to help the people of Scotland.”

He stressed his belief that devolution was working well for Scotland and that co-operation between the UK and Scottish governments over coronavirus was good. At the request of the devolved administrations a “shared statement” would be issued soon about tackling coronavirus across the UK.

“I was talking to Nicola just last Friday and we agreed we would shortly release a shared statement across the UK about our approach towards the virus so whatever noises off we’ve had in the past, the right approach, the approach we discussed on Friday and shared on Saturday is to work well together,” he said.

Asked if the statement would focus on elimination of the virus which Ms Sturgeon has said is the Scottish Government’s aim, he said: “I don’t want to pre-empt what we’ll say in that statement as it will be shared, and we will have shared language, and all of us have a shared desire to beat back the virus as effectively as possible.

“Of course there are different policy interventions at different times, but we’re moving towards the same goal. So at the suggestion of the devolved administrations and with our enthusiastic support we’ll be saying more later about how we can reinforce working together across the UK in order to beat the virus.”

Mr Gove said as part of collaborative working he had held regular calls with First Ministers and Deputy First Ministers “to share our perspective and the experiences we have and to compare and contrast approaches” and had more than 40 meetings with ministers from devolved nations.

He added: “All of the governments recognise that inevitably the reality is of greater cooperation and all administrations have been working in the interests of the health of our citizens. And we all want to stress that our overall aim is to reduce risk of the virus but of course the nature of the statement will depend on the precise emphasis that each devolved administration wants to put in it and we will work to make sure that is reinforced. Even if were travelling at different paces at different times, overall we’re working together.

“Just on Saturday I was chairing a call where Humza Yousaf was a key participant, where we made the difficult but necessary decision to take a new approach towards Spain. The right approach is recognising there are different circumstances in different parts of the UK. The right thing is to work together and coordinate together. There may be some political noises off, but my approach is to work with all the devolved administrations.”