SCOTTISH Labour leader Richard Leonard has said he is “strongly of the view” that the UK must follow a common approach to leaving the coronavirus lockdown.

Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch had recently suggested at separate exit strategies, while Imperial College’s Neil Ferguson had recently hinted that lockdown measures could be eased based on people’s ages and geographical locations.

However Leonard told the BBC there needs to be a “cross-border” approach when the time does come.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said later this week she will lay out criteria which must be met for Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Scotland may take different approach to UK on lockdown call

While some Cabinet ministers have hinted they favour easing constraints from next month, Sturgeon has indicated she is more cautious and does not see the economy and health as trade offs.

But Leonard questioned how “different rules” for easing the lockdown would affect border areas and said he rejects an early end to current restrictions.

The MSP said: “Party leaders last week asked the First Minister if we could get access to officials in the Scottish Government who are working on the exit strategy, and so far that hasn’t happened.”

“We don’t expect a detailed timetable because, to some extent, we are in uncharted territory, but we do expect cross-party agreement on the principles that will guide the exit strategy.”

He went on: “We are strongly of the view that there needs to be a cross-border approach.

"The national clinical director said recently that Orkney is not the same as Oxford street, but that raises considerations about what the implication of a differentiated approach would be to the south of Scotland, to the border communities, if there were different rules on lockdown operating in Dumfries and Galloway compared to Cumbria.”

The national clinical director had suggested restrictions could be eased differently across the UK, saying: “Orkney looks quite different from Oxford Street. It’s important to do what applies in your context.”

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