Under-fire Professor Jason Leitch should quit his top role since the public no longer trusts him, a leading Aberdeen scientist has claimed today.
Professor Hugh Pennington, a veteran microbiologist, slated the SNP’s handling of the pandemic and claims he was likely ignored because he opposes independence.
“I think if I was him, I would push off,” he said referring to Prof Leitch, the Scottish Government’s national clinical director.
The Aberdeen bacteriologist compared the fiasco surrounding Prof Leitch to the high-profile Post Office scandal.
“It’s a similar kind of situation,” he told the Press and Journal. “Once you’ve lost trust, it’s time to move on.”
Prof Leitch has faced widespread calls to resign after damning evidence emerged during the UK Covid inquiry in Edinburgh this week.
The national clinical director explained to Humza Yousaf, then health secretary, how he could dodge Covid mask rules at an event.
Prof Pennington claims former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon prioritised a “closed club” of friendly advisers and cut out those who were more critical.
The veteran academic felt as though he was “persona non-grata” since he led the pro-union campaign in Aberdeen during the independence referendum.
He told us: “I think it is a reasonable assumption to make, because of my standing on the independence question. I wasn’t somebody who’d be sought out for my views.”
Texts from the Covid inquiry also showed Mr Yousaf joking to Prof Leitch that he was “winging it” during the pandemic, shortly after he became SNP health chief.
‘Where were the experts?’
Prof Pennington hit out, saying: “It looks as though Humza Yousaf was out of his depth.
“The fact that Humza Yousaf was winging it, in his own words, where were the bloody experts advising them?”
Prof Pennington insists the government should have paid more attention to Covid carriers without symptoms who spread the virus.
In 2020, he said Aberdeen was being “hammered and punished” when the city was placed under local lockdown restrictions.
He insists Professor Mark Woolhouse, who specialises in disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, should have been listened to more often.
Prof Woolhouse, who was on the government’s Covid advisory group, strongly criticised the SNP’s approach to the pandemic when he appeared at the inquiry this week.
“Clearly his voice wasn’t getting through to Humza Yousaf,” Prof Pennington said.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is committed to responding to both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 inquiries, as learning lessons from the pandemic is vital to prepare for the future.
“It would be inappropriate to comment on the detail of evidence being considered by the UK Covid Inquiry while hearings are ongoing.”
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