Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she will still do televised coronavirus briefings during the Holyrood election campaign, when "big decisions" need to be communicated to the public.
While she said it would not be "business as normal", the First Minister insisted she had a duty to communicate any major decisions regarding the virus to the public and would need to "remain accountable" during the health crisis.
However, she added that the public would likely be seeing more of National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch and Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith in her place in the run up to the election.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Going into the election I remain First Minister, and ministers remain ministers, so we have to remain accountable during a health crisis.
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“We have to have the ability to communicate directly with the public.”
Asked by Labour’s Monica Lennon about whether the Scottish Government would use experts, such as National Clinical Director Professor Jason Leitch and Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith, to front the briefings during the election campaign, Ms Sturgeon said no “final, detailed decision” had yet been made.
But the First Minister, who was answering questions from Holyrood’s Covid-19 Committee, said that “already the briefings are happening less frequently”.
Her comments come in the wake of concerns from opposition MSPs that Ms Sturgeon’s regular appearance on the the televised coronavirus briefings could give her an advantage in the Scottish election campaign.
But the First Minister insisted: “I am democrat, I understand the importance of level playing fields in elections, so I will act appropriately.
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“You will undoubtedly not have me doing daily briefings everyday the way I have been doing them previously, but if there are big decisions that we are having to make during the election period, then I have a duty to communicate to the public what they are.”
However, she added: “I fully understand the importance of the election and the democratic process and it is not in my interest to in any way to be seen to be abusing the position of First Minister, and I will not do that.”
As such, she told the committee: “I suspect you will be seeing more, even more than you have over the last year, of Gregor and Jason in terms of a day to day basis.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “It will not be business as normal during the election campaign but we will still be in a crisis and therefore we need to make sure we are serving the public appropriately.”
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