Nicola Sturgeon was accused of ‘twisting Covid numbers’ to demonstrate that Scotland is performing better under the tougher restrictions than England.
Scottish Liberal Democrats have reported the First Minister to the UK Statistics Authority over yesterday’s use of Holyrood numbers.
Ms. Sturgeon mentioned the Office for National Statistics (ONS). She stated that England’s rate of infection is 20% more than Scotland.
Figures from the ONS show that 5.47% of England’s population is infected, whereas 4.49% in Scotland.
It can be estimated that the English figure is 21.83% higher than the Scottish one, however the Scottish Liberal Democrats took offense at such a claim as there are only 0.98 percentage points between them.
Scottish Liberal Democrats reported Nicola Sturgeon’s use of Holyrood numbers yesterday to the UK Statistics Authority
Willie Rennie, Lib Dem MSP wrote to Sir David Norgrove (UK Statistics Authority Chairman): ‘The general public can always trust the Scottish Government to interpret data with integrity.
“This information is more crucial when it is used to justify and support restrictions on individuals’ liberty under emergency powers.
“Parliament granted ministers powers that wouldn’t be accepted in other circumstances.” Therefore, it is important to scrutinize how these powers are being used.
Public confidence in the statistics cannot be compromised. It must not be manipulated, spun or biased. These statistics could have been seriously distorted, however.
This is the second instance in recent weeks where a top Government official has been reported by the watchdog. Labour had previously accused John Swinney, Deputy First Minister of misleading the effect of the coronavirus restriction in Scotland.
Swinney also serves as the Scottish Government’s Covid Recovery Secretary.
He spoke on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland on January 4.
Swinney cites numbers that were available before restrictions were placed on the Scottish Government.
The UK Statistics Authority rebuked the Scottish Government in November for remarks made by Mr Swinney regarding the use Test and Protect data.
Sir David responded to Jackie Baillie (Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson), by saying that the Scottish Government “should be more clear about the limitations in comparing numbers for Scotland (published under Public Health Scotland with the World Health Organisation target of contact tracing”.
Ed Humpherson (the organisation’s director general for regulation) wrote to the Government, advising it on how to present the numbers more accurately.
Willie Rennie (Lib Dem) addressed Sir David Norgrove as a note in which he stated: ‘The general public has a right not to have the Scottish Government interpret data poorly.