Ian Murray: Scottish Government response 'too slow, 95 per cent of deaths preventable'

Scottish Shadow Secretary Ian Murray has criticised both governments for being “too slow” to act on coronavirus.

Scottish Shadow Secretary Ian Murray has criticised both UK and Scottish governments for being “too slow” to act on coronavirus.

The Labour politician, speaking on BBC Scotland this morning, said 95 per cent of possible cases and deaths could have been prevented if government officials imposed the COVID-19 lockdown two weeks earlier.

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“Both governments should have been much faster in lockdown, providing PPE and ranking up testing,” Mr Murray said.

Scottish Shadow Secretary Ian Murray has criticised both governments for being “too slow” to act on  coronavirus.Scottish Shadow Secretary Ian Murray has criticised both governments for being “too slow” to act on  coronavirus.
Scottish Shadow Secretary Ian Murray has criticised both governments for being “too slow” to act on  coronavirus.

“These are the three big criticisms that are not just coming from politicians but from the community.”

The British politician said while Labour has been supporting the government in what it has done right, including grants for the business community and the job retention scheme, it needs to be “held account” for where it has gone wrong in handling the coronavirus.

He said Labour leader Keir Starmer’s criticism of the UK Government being too slow on delivering PPE, testing and lockdown measures is the same for the Scottish Government.

Mr Murray said: “I know it’s easy in hindsight to say that lockdown should have happened earlier, but all the signs were there.

“It looks like we are two weeks behind.

“Europe should have locked down when it was happening in the far east.

“The government was far too slow on lockdown, PPE, testing and slow at looking at a proper exit strategy.”

He said the figures for testing in Scotland were still “far too low” and not enough testing is being carried out at the “epicentre of our communities”, i.e. in care homes.

“It’s all too slow,” he added.

“We still have PPE sitting on the tarmac at Prestwick.

“It’s pretty clear the government was too slow to lockdown and in terms of protective equipment and testing.”

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