Analysis: Covid has thrown devolution into the spotlight, but testing row shows its limits

Covid has thrown devolution into the spotlight as never before.

Differences in the approach taken by Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been part of the story of the pandemic.

We’ve become used to rules diverging, even if the overall direction of travel has been broadly similar.

Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson

But the crisis has also demonstrated the limits of devolution. Ultimately, decisions taken by the UK Government have a knock-on effect, not least in terms of cash.

We saw this with the furlough scheme and we’re seeing it again with the policy around free Covid tests.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public will end on April 1 in England.

Symptomatic tests will still be provided for the oldest age groups and the most vulnerable, but everyone else will have to fork out around £20 for a box.

Mr Johnson emphasised the sheer cost of the current regime, which came to £2 billion in January alone.

"We must now scale this back,” he told the Commons.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, called Mr Johnson’s plans “dangerous”.

"The illogical reality of UK finance means that these decisions, made for England by a failing Prime Minister, affect the money the devolved nations have to provide testing,” he said.

"It is unacceptable that the ability to protect our population can be imperilled on the basis of a political decision taken by a Prime Minister in crisis.

"His decisions directly affect whether Scotland has the funding required to keep its people safe.”

This, Mr Blackford argued, is “the ridiculous reality of devolution”.

The Prime Minister appeared to confirm there will be no additional funding heading Scotland’s way.

It remains to be seen what Nicola Sturgeon will decide when she outlines her own Covid framework.

Maintaining the current testing regime would presumably cost tens of millions of pounds a month, but the First Minister agrees there needs to be a transition to a “more targeted” approach.

At any rate, Mr Blackford made it clear the Scottish Government can only go so far on its own. It doesn’t have the same fiscal powers as the UK Government.

It’s just another reminder that while public health is devolved, the old saying applies – money is power.