Nicola Sturgeon shot down Carol McGiffin’s suggestion that her recent Covid law blunder could be compared with Boris Johnson’s Partygate during a heated appearance on Loose Women.
The Scottish First Minister was investigated by Police Scotland after being seen without a face covering during an SNP local election campaign event last Saturday.
While England scrapped the compulsory wearing of masks weeks ago, Scotland only removed the law requiring face covers on Monday.
In a statement, Ms Sturgeon apologised for her “error”, saying: “I explained that the error was inadvertent and the police have confirmed that the matter is closed.”
That did not wash with McGiffin however, who asked the politician if she intended to resign from her post when she was a guest on the ITV daytime show on Wednesday.
“What’s the difference between your misdemeanor or breaking your rules your laws, then Boris breaking his rules, his laws. He’s stood in Parliament and made an apology. You’ve made an apology, sort of,” the presenter put forward.
“It’s not sort of, I’m sorry,” Ms Sturgeon responded.
Ms Sturgeon went on to explain that the mistake occurred when she was on the street and was called into a barber shop, momentarily forgetting to put her mask on which was in her pocket.
“I think that is something that probably many people, if not most people, have done over the past couple of years,” she said.
She did however say that she believes it’s right she “gets a harder time than the average person” because of her position and the fact that she “make the rules”.
She continued: “But is that the same, and I just pose this as a question, and you know my view, but is that the same as having six parties at the strictest part of lockdown, presiding over what seems to be a culture of rule-breaking in Downing Street, and then not telling the truth to Parliament? People can make their own judgment about that. I don’t think these things are equivalent.”
Pressed by McGiffin on whether she would resign as she had demanded of the Prime Minister, she said: “I don’t think they are equivalent.
“With Boris it’s the serial breaches at a time when the rest of the country was in very, very strict lockdown.
“But it’s also, to be blunt about it, when this first came to light he wasn’t honest about it and he wasn’t honest in the House of Commons.
“It’s really important that people can trust the Prime Minister to tell the truth. There’s got to be consequences for your actions.”
Ms Sturgeon then reminded the panel, which also included Christine Lampard, Judi Love and Gloria Hunniford that last year had been accused of misleading the Scottish Parliament, with the investigation concluding that she hadn’t.
She affirmed that had the findings of the investigation gone the other way, then she would have tendered her resignation.
