Michael Gove accuses Nicola Sturgeon of wanting ‘political conflict’ during Covid crisis

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Nicola Sturgeon used the Covid pandemic to additional the goals of Scottish independence and “destroy the UK”, Michael Gove has claimed.

The levelling up secretary accused the SNP of trying to find “political conflict” during the pandemic in an effort to make the case for an impartial Scotland.

While Mr Gove mentioned the Scottish authorities’s resolution making was “overwhelmingly driven by a desire to do the right thing”, he informed the Covid inquiry Ms Sturgeon sought “political advantage at certain points”.

“There are and were occasions when the Scottish government was thinking politically… and of course it is the case the SNP has a political mission to achieve Scotland’s independence, i.e. destroy the United Kingdom,” Mr Gove mentioned.

He added that it could be “naive” to suppose “highly skilled politicians” together with Ms Sturgeon wouldn’t search “political advantage at certain points”.

It got here as Mr Gove gave proof to the inquiry on how the UK and Scottish governments labored collectively during the pandemic.

The then cupboard workplace minister mentioned there have been tensions at instances inside the UK authorities at Ms Sturgeon diverging from choices taken in Westminster or making choices unilaterally.

One instance included Mr Gove describing “unhappiness” in Downing Street when Ms Sturgeon appeared to ban events of over 500 people in Scotland unilaterally.

He went on to tell the inquiry some of the language used by Scottish officials led him to believe there was a “want for differentiation” from the UK authorities.

He mentioned a “temptation” among the many SNP to hunt political benefit was clearly there “given the cause to which they have devoted their lives (independence)”.

“I think that almost all of the time, decisions were made in the public health interests of the people of Scotland,” he mentioned.

He added: “The Scottish government believed that if its handling of these matters was somehow superior to that of the UK government, that people would appreciate and recognise that and therefore people would be prompted to think: ‘Well, how much better might life be if we gave the Scottish Government more powers and we moved further down the path to independence?’.”

The high Tory minister went on to assert that Ms Sturgeon after which prime minister Boris Johnson have been “not soulmates” however they have been “able to secure effective co-ordination on substantive policy”.

Mr Gove served as a Cabinet Office minister during the pandemic, with a deal with intergovernmental relations and informed the inquiry the connection between the UK Government and the devolved administrations was “for the most part constructive” when coping with the day-to-day administration of the pandemic.

He mentioned “we can learn from how we responded to this virus to consider how the devolution settlement can be evolved in the future” however the present steadiness of the constitutional settlement is “broadly right”.