YOU could call it state-sponsored sanctimony. In times of crisis or national emergency we’re all urged to pull in the same direction and put partisan politics behind us. How dare you talk about inequality and the plight of the disadvantaged at a time like this? Those who tend to be loudest in rebuking these social pariahs are often those who stand to benefit most from any suspension of scrutiny.

Certainly, it would be foolish not to follow a plan simply because you don’t fancy the look of its authors. But when the UK Government’s response and strategy for containing coronavirus have been found to be deficient then surely a devolved administration has a duty to seek a different way within its jurisdictional competence.

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The Scottish Government, having adhered to Westminster’s plan for the first five weeks of this crisis, is now facing valid questions about the wisdom of sticking to the Johnson roadmap so uncritically. The UK is on course for one of the biggest death tolls in Europe following a haphazard and complacent approach by Westminster. This resulted in three lost weeks prior to the March 23 lockdown during which the Prime Minister genuinely didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. Scotland has thus fared less well than other similar-sized jurisdictions, most notably Ireland.

Mr Johnson’s ministers, standing in for him during his rural confinement, have probably done more damage to the reputation of English public schools than Messrs Philby, Burgess and MacLean. None of them look as though they know what’s going on either as they lurch from one hapless plan to the next. They are also a daily advert for Scottish independence and Ms Sturgeon must now begin the process of decoupling from this train-wreck.

How much of this informed Ms Sturgeon’s decision yesterday to depart slightly from the UK’s direction of travel is open to conjecture. It was the right thing to do though. She seems to be acutely aware that some of our communities and some sections of the population have less of what is needed to deal with the pressures of confinement than others.

For every household which will come to view this period as a curious interlude in their comfortable existences there are several who have nothing with which to ease the sense of isolation and helplessness. They don’t have gardens sufficiently large and handsome to fix a barbecue or a batch gin-tasting before posting it on social media with a witty apercu.

Having emerged from a decade of economic lockout consisting of austerity; healthcare cuts and long-term unemployment they are now being told to deal with a lockdown by playing parlour games on Zoom and touching their toes with Joe.

We are plainly not all in this together and to suggest otherwise is naïve and ignorant. In no country does a one-size-fits-all approach to government work, and certainly not in Scotland. Here there are several regional statelets, distinct from each other in history, culture, faith and geography, which rub along edgily with each other.

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It’s inconceivable that those who were already struggling before this pandemic will adhere to this universal curfew for longer than another few weeks. Something will have to give lest the country is soon to face outbreaks of serious civil disorder. Ms Sturgeon seems to have sensed this and has moved to offer hope and a little compassion.

Lest anyone in the Scottish Government be tempted to promote the advantages of being independent during a global health crisis a few familiar trumpets from the sprawling right-wing commentariat in Scotland have been quick to advise them of the folly of such a position. Why, independence would be unthinkable in these circumstances; how could Scotland put together an economic aid package similar to that announced by the UK government to help businesses?

Presumably, the UK Government simply borrowed like everyone else faced with this situation. What will define the quality of the UK Government isn’t how quickly they requisitioned the cash for their bailout package but how they choose to spread the burden of its impact afterwards.

Nothing, we are told, will ever be normal again after this. The effects of coronavirus will persist for a generation. Change isn’t merely advisable; it’s necessary. Having walked in the shoes of the poor for a little while we will be compelled to do without in other ways. And if we’re talking about change then we need also to talk about changing the way we do politics; how we make legislation and where we spend money. This is exactly the right time for the wider Scottish independence movement to discuss ways of pressing home the advantage of compassion.

The attitude of every Westminster administration since the global banking crisis of 2008 does not engender any confidence that one headed by Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings will act in the interests of the many rather than the few. A decade or so of marginalising communities, intimidating minorities and assuaging the malfeasance of the finance sector ensured that those least able to bear the burden of 2008 footed a disproportionate share of the bill.

Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove have already signalled their intent to endanger the UK’s coronavirus recovery by insisting that Brexit remains on track. We are fond of mocking President Trump for his increasingly unhinged pronouncements but nothing he has said is as reckless as this. It reinforces the idea that the Johnson government, whose weaknesses have been ruthlessly exposed by coronavirus, is still refusing to take the threat seriously enough.

This week, Pope Francis said: “We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick.”

The aftermath of coronavirus will expose the true nature of governments. It will lay bare the soul of the cult currently running the UK. Scotland faces a moral choice and one which will define the immediate future of most of her people: to permit our most vulnerable to be prey to the whims of Mr Johnson or to embrace independence as a means of giving them a chance in the economic storm that will follow.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.