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Daily Record
Politics
Peter Davidson

Humza Yousaf accuses UK Government of playing 'silly political games' over Omicron money

Humza Yousaf has accused the UK Government for playing "silly political games" over money being given to Scotland to cope with the Omicron variant.

The SNP Health Secretary took aim after a row erupted over the cash that was announced by the UK Treasury on Sunday evening.

Scottish Government ministers claimed the additional £220million was an advance payment that would have come to Scotland anyway, however UK ministers said it was emergency funding on top of the £220m announced last week.

It means Scotland has been given an extra £440m to tackle Omicron.

Later today, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will outline what measures she intends to tackle in order to halt the spread of the new variant.

At the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee at Holyrood today Yousaf was asked if he could issue some clarity on if the money was new or an advanced payment.

He replied: " I wish I could which I suppose is exactly the point that you're making.

"It was extremely poor that in the midst of a global pandemic, in the midst of, or certainly at the foothills of another wave that these kinds of silly political games get played.

"When the First Minister stands on her feet there's a press release from the Treasury claiming that there will be new money when it was nothing of the sort.

"Not only nothing of the sort, a potential reduction in the consequentials that are coming our way.

"These consequentials are fatal in being able to deal with the effects of the pandemic."

The relationship between the governments in Edinburgh and London has soured in recent days after Nicola Sturgeon hit out at Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak for not attending a COBRA meeting on Sunday.

Sturgeon tweeted on Sunday: "As infections soar and businesses suffer, we still need much more urgency in action and support from UK Gov - so that devolved government’s hands (are) not tied.

“To that end, it was disappointing and frustrating that neither the PM nor the Chancellor attended this evening’s COBRA.”

A No 10 spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister spoke with all the First Ministers and Deputy First Minister on Friday to discuss the shared challenges of Covid 19.

"Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay chaired a constructive COBR meeting between the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations to discuss potential workforce disruption arising from the omicron variant, and plans to prepare for that. It is standard practice for leading ministers to chair COBR.

"The Government works closely with all of the devolved governments including through COBR meetings and continued daily official level co-ordination.”

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