Sturgeon pushes for clarity over coronavirus messaging
Scotland's First Minister has pushed for clarity of messaging over coronavirus. Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon said she remained committed'' to working with the other nations of the UK on the virus.
The First Minister said that the other nations of the UK should not be hearing about plans through the newspapers, referencing her discovery of the new messaging issued by the UK Government on Sunday.
Reports surfaced on Saturday night that the slogan stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives'' would be dropped in favour ofstay alert, control the virus, save lives''.
In a tweet on Sunday morning, the First Minister said she was made aware of the change through Sunday newspapers.
She said: Clarity of message is paramount if we expect all of you to know exactly what it is we are asking of you.
We have a duty to deliver that clarity to those we are accountable to, not to confuse it.''
The First Minister claimed a lack of consultation on messaging which could potentially be confused as being UK-wide made it harder to work together.
She said: What does make a four nations approach more difficult to sustain is if decisions are being taken and, even inadvertently, being taken as UK decisions when they are not without proper consultation.
That's what I think is difficult and what I hope we will not see in the future, where we can get back to a position where we're sharing our thinking where even if we're doing things slightly differently, we understand each other's position and don't end up inadvertently confusing each other's messages.''
The First Minister asked the UK Government not to deploy the new messaging in Scotland, and told the briefing that the respective communications departments are currently in discussions.
She added: The message in Scotland at this stage is not 'stay at home if you can'.
The message is 'except for the essential reasons you know about, stay at home full stop'.''
The First Minister went on to say that relaxing too many restrictions could end with death figures beginning to rise.