NICOLA Sturgeon went out of her way to be “different” from England on pandemic curbs for “political” reasons, an ex Downing Street aide has told the UK Covid inquiry.

And he said the former First Minister attempted to frame decisions as “Scottish” rather than “English” by taking the same course of action on different days.

He suggested that by doing so, Ms Sturgeon created “a great deal of distrust” and a “lot of frustration”.

He told the inquiry: “Every decision that was taken, Scotland always went slightly differently in timing to the rest.”

On the announcement of pandemic measures, he said: “There was always a desire for it to be a Scottish decision, not an English decision, and it was always the same decision, but it would happen two days earlier, two days later or whatever.”

He added: “There was this desire for, in Scotland, and please excuse me for saying it, to be different all the time, and I think that was a political move rather than a practical move.”

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters