{"id":53486,"date":"2020-08-25T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T16:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/scotlands-handling-of-coronavirus-boosts-support-for-independence\/"},"modified":"2020-08-25T19:38:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T16:38:00","slug":"scotlands-handling-of-coronavirus-boosts-support-for-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/scotlands-handling-of-coronavirus-boosts-support-for-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"#Scotland\u2019s handling of coronavirus boosts support for independence"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Scotland\u2019s handling of coronavirus boosts support for independence<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n EDINBURGH, Scotland \u2014 There is wide agreement that Britain\u2019s devastating coronavirus outbreak has been met by strong, effective political leadership. Just not from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<\/p>\n

While Johnson has often seemed to flounder and flip-flop his way through the biggest national crisis in decades, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has won praise for her sober, straight-talking response.<\/p>\n

The gulf between the neat, concise Sturgeon and the rumpled, rambling Johnson has catapulted the idea of Scottish independence from the United Kingdom \u2014 the long-held dream of Sturgeon\u2019s nationalist government \u2014 back up the political agenda.<\/p>\n

The issue app<\/a>eared settled when Scottish voters rejected secession by 55 percent-45 percent in a 2014 referendum. But after Brexit and COVID-19, \u201cthere are signs that the anchors of the union are beginning to shift,\u201d said Tom Devine, emeritus professor of history at the University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Devine said Sturgeon\u2019s government \u201chas demonstrated it can manage the greatest catastrophe since World War II. And that suggests to some people who might have been on the edge of \u2018yes\u2019 and \u2018no\u2019 (for independence) that they could actually run a normal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent opinion polls support that view.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in Scottish polling history, we have supporters of independence outnumbering opponents over an extended period,\u201d said John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde.<\/p>\n

One long-simmering reason is Britain\u2019s departure from the European Union. Brexit is resented by many in Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain in the bloc. The UK officially left the EU on Jan. 31, although the economic break \u2014 and potential shock, if a trade deal isn\u2019t struck between the two sides \u2014 won\u2019t occur until the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

The new factor is the pandemic, which has put the contrasting styles of Sturgeon and Johnson to the test.<\/p>\n

The four parts of the UK \u2014 England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland \u2014 acted together to impose a nationwide lockdown in March. But Sturgeon has been more cautious in lifting it for Scotland than Johnson has for England, keeping businesses such as bars and restaurants shut for longer and cautioning against a hasty return to travel<\/a> and social<\/a>izing.<\/p>\n

She gives televised news<\/a> conferences several days a week (Johnson\u2019s government stopped doing so in June) and often wears a tartan face mask in public, a gesture that conveys both prudence and patriotism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she has done a great job,\u201d said Pamela McGregor, who runs a pub in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. \u201cShe has been very calm and very respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtice said Sturgeon had \u201cleveled much more with people\u201d than Johnson about the hardships of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK government is very defensive, very reluctant to admit mistakes,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd Boris has been much more, \u2018We think you need to go back to work because it\u2019s good for the economy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s government was shaken early in the outbreak when both he and Health Secretary Matt Hancock contracted the virus. Johnson spent three nights in intensive care. His administration has made U-turns on issues including wearing masks in public and whether to quarantine arrivals from abroad.<\/p>\n

Public trust in the government suffered when Johnson aide Dominic Cummings broke lockdown rules by driving 250 miles (400 kilometers) to his parents\u2019 house \u2014 and kept his job. When Scottish Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood flouted her own advice by traveling to her second home, she resigned within hours.<\/p>\n

Some of the difference between the two governments is style rather than substance. Scotland shared in the UK\u2019s early mistakes in confronting the pandemic, notably a failure to protect elderly residents in nursing homes, where many died.<\/p>\n

The virus has played a part in 4,200 deaths in Scotland, which has a population of 5.5 million, making it one of the highest per-capita rates in Europe. In England, which has 10 times the population, there have been about 50,000 deaths in which COVID-19 was a factor, according to official statistics. Both figures are higher than the UK\u2019s official coronavirus death toll of more than 41,000.<\/p>\n

Ramsay Jones, a former adviser to ex-Prime Minister David Cameron, said Sturgeon is a skilled communicator but has largely acted in concert with the UK government over the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas anything materially been done different? Not really,\u201d he said. \u201cThe car that they\u2019re presenting in the showroom looks shinier, looks well-polished, but lift the hood, it\u2019s no different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sturgeon knows that turning increased support for independence into reality will be a challenge.<\/p>\n

An election for the Scottish Parliament is due in May. If Sturgeon\u2019s Scottish National Party wins the anticipated majority, she is likely to demand a new independence referendum. But a binding referendum needs the UK government\u2019s approval and Johnson insists he\u2019ll say no. Few think the cautious Sturgeon would emulate Catalan separatists in Spain and hold an unauthorized vote.<\/p>\n

Sturgeon is also facing potential fallout from an inquiry into how her government handled sexual assault allegations against former First Minister Alex Salmond.<\/p>\n

Supporters of independence are encouraged, but wary.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there\u2019s more and more people coming on board the independence movement, there\u2019s a sort of feeling that we\u2019re a wee bit stuck,\u201d said Gerry Mulvenna, a pro-independence activist in Edinburgh. \u201cI sense there is a shift. But how do we get there?\u201d<\/p>\n

The pro-independence camp in a new referendum would also have to convince voters that an independent Scotland could thrive economically. That\u2019s not an easy task in an uncertain era.<\/p>\n

Devine said the pandemic has shown that \u201cit\u2019s a pretty cold world out there \u2014 and I think the Scots in the majority still remain a pretty canny people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Scots say they simply have more urgent things to worry about. Edinburgh\u2019s streets in August are usually thronging with visitors to the arts festivals that turn the city into an international melting pot of creativity. This year, the city is unnaturally quiet. Many businesses are still shut or struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m just concentrating on the pandemic and surviving at the moment,\u201d said McGregor, who recently reopened her tiny Edinburgh bar after lockdown. \u201cI would love to have independence, but I think maybe now is not the time.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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“#Scotland\u2019s handling of coronavirus boosts support for independence” EDINBURGH, Scotland \u2014 There is wide agreement that Britain\u2019s devastating coronavirus outbreak has been met by strong, effective political leadership. Just not from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. While Johnson has often seemed to flounder and flip-flop his way through the biggest national crisis in decades, Scottish leader…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[58382],"class_list":["post-53486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-scotlands-handling-of-coronavirus-boosts-support-for-independence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}