NICOLA Sturgeon has said she was "profoundly shocked" to learn of alleged remarks made by the Prime Minister about allowing coronavirus deaths to grow.
As reported this morning, the Prime Minister is claimed to have said he would "let the bodies pile high into their thousands" and added: " no more f******g lockdowns".
Government ministers have strongly denied that Mr Johnson made the remarks with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace this morning describing them as "just not true".
Asked about the reports by journalists this morning, Nicola Sturgeon said she was appalled by the remarks, if true.
She said: "I feel a combination of being shocked, profoundly shocked at any suggestion that was said, but also, on some level, not being that surprised.
" I don't know if he said it because I wasn't there, but based on my experiences of him I don't find it impossible to believe. On the contrary, it is all too believable."
She continued: "For any Prime Minister, for any human being, to be so glib and crass about human life, is profoundly shocking.
"I can only speak for myself, as First Minister over the past years I can't begin to tell you the hours I've spent lying awake at night worrying about the impact of the decisions we're taking, about whether we're doing enough to save lives and what the impact of all of that was having on businesses.
"This has been a profoundly serious situation that we've all faced and I think it will upset and shock everybody to hear the very suggestion that a Prime Minister may have said something like that."
Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Mp for Orkney and Shetland, said the remarks were "atrocious".
He said: " If this quote is correct, it is a truly atrocious comment from an atrocious Prime Minister. When Johnson himself was hospitalised well wishes flooded in from across the country, it's sad that he does not share the shame concern for others.
"Not only do these comments display a callous disregard for the tens of thousands who have lost their lives but they display a profound misunderstanding of how the public health and economic crises intertwine.
"You cannot simply open up, allow the virus to rampant and assume the economy will flourish.
"Boris Johnson and acolytes like Douglas Ross have delivered one of the highest death rates in the world. They should not now be trusted with leading the recovery."
Mr Johnson, his official spokesman and government ministers have all denied that he made the remarks. Several sources, so far unnamed, have claimed the comments were made after a meeting about lockdowns in Downing Street. It is alleged Mr Johnson shouted the remarks and a door was open, so several staff members overheard.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel