Scotland’s deputy first minister has been reported to the UK Statistics Authority after he was accused of misrepresenting data to justify the region’s COVID-19 restrictions, which are significantly stricter than in neighbouring England. John Swinney, who also serves as the Scottish government’s COVID Recovery Secretary, suggested infection rates in Scotland were lower than in England because of extra measures introduced by the Scottish National Party (SNP) administration. The SNP government imposed a ban on large-scale events including football matches on Boxing Day in order to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. On the following day, all nightclubs were closed and pubs and restaurants were limited to table service only. Talking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Jan. 4, Swinney cited Office for National Statistics (ONS) data published on Dec. 31, 2021, which showed one in 25 people …