If Nicola Sturgeon wants a grown-up conversation she’s got some answers to provide – Ian Murray

Every day I await the publication of the data on the number of Covid-19 infections, hospital admissions and death rates in the desperate hope they will fall – and fall quickly.

I’m willing on my political opponents, the First Minister and Prime Minister, to ensure we get through this crisis together.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has emphasised that the opposition will support our leaders at this time as we are all on the same side against this virus. It’s humanity versus the virus.

But that doesn’t negate the job of opposition politicians to scrutinise and challenge decisions on behalf of the country, our constituents and democracy. And that is why I was so angry this week to find out from a BBC Scotland documentary that there was a major Covid-19 outbreak in Edinburgh back in late February, yet the public was not informed.

Despite knowing the virus had been present in Edinburgh since late February, mass gatherings were not banned in Scotland until March 16 while lockdown measures were not introduced until a week later in lockstep with the UK Government. The BBC documentary concluded with scientific and pandemic experts who said a lockdown in Scotland two weeks earlier could have saved up to 2,000 lives.

The outbreak started at a Nike international conference with 70 delegates in the Hilton Carlton hotel on North Bridge in the heart of our capital city and was described as the “ground zero” for the virus in Scotland, infecting 25 people.

The Scottish Government was aware of the outbreak here but made the decision not to tell the Edinburgh and wider public about it.

I find this extraordinary. The First Minister, whose communication has been much better than the bungling Prime Minister, said that we should all have a “grown-up conversation” about the impact of the virus and how we look to the future. It is a shame that she did not see the Edinburgh public as being grown-up enough to be informed of major outbreak in our city.

To confuse matters further the reason for not informing the wider public was one of “patient confidentiality”. I simply do not accept this as a reason. You don’t need to identify people to take action on a pandemic outbreak and inform the public.

The First Minister then claimed that “all necessary protocols were implemented” and full contact tracing was carried out for delegates. But how many of the conference delegates were in touch with the wider public? How many used local transport, shops, restaurants, bars, taxis, the airport, trains, and other local services?

And finally came the accusation of this being “politicised”. This is the worst allegation of all. It is not politicising anything to both represent your constituents and people in this city who are asking legitimate questions about how this incident was “ground zero” and why they weren’t told. It is the job of both the free media and opposition politicians to scrutinise, challenge, represent and amplify the voices of others.

The coronavirus public health response in Scotland is almost the sole responsibility of the Scottish Government as demonstrated by the divergence at the weekend from England. You can’t have the responsibility without the accountability.

I have said repeatedly that in the absence of a vaccine the only way to release the lockdown is through mass testing, tracking and tracing. The Scottish Government is carrying out a pitiful number of daily tests which are a fraction of what is required to help ease the lockdown. That has the consequence of slower reduction in infections and a rate of mortality in our care homes that is up to double that of elsewhere. We are testing fewer people per thousand population than anywhere else in Europe and most of the world. We have failed to get any clear answer on why these figures are so poor.

So, let’s have a grown-up conversation. But that starts with getting answers to key questions and treating the Edinburgh public with the respect they deserve.

Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South