Uk Covid Inquiry: Nicola Sturgeon insists WhatsApp was not used to reach decisions on pandemic

The former first minister is being quizzed at the Covid-19 Inquiry all day

Nicola Sturgeon has told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that it is still her position the Scottish Government was open, transparent and accountable during the pandemic.

Jamie Dawson KC asked Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister: “Is it still your position today that you and the Scottish Government were open, transparent and accountable in your actions, not just in your words, at all times throughout the pandemic response in Scotland?”

Ms Sturgeon said: “Yes, that is still my position. Openness and transparency with the Scottish public was very important to me from the outset of the pandemic. I communicated to the public on a daily basis for a lengthy period of time.

Nicola Sturgeon giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry

“We will not have got every decision right, and we will have made misjudgments and there will be undoubtedly instances put to me today where on reflection I will think that we could have been more transparent than we were, but given the nature of the emergency that we were confronted with, building a relationship of trust with the public was important, and in my view then and in my view now that had to be built on a spirit of openness.”

The questions facing former first minister

She insisted that she did not conduct government business via informal WhatsApp, either through the pandemic or at any other point.

The former first minister said there was a “high degree of formality” around Scottish Government decision making.

Nicola Sturgeon arrives at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry hearing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Picture: SWNS

She maintained that she did not use informal messaging apps for decision making but Jamie Dawson KC, senior counsel to the inquiry put it to Ms Sturgeon that she “at least rarely used them”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I have not said and I’m not saying today that I never used informal means of communication. What I am saying is that I did so very rarely and not to discuss issues of substance or anything that could be described as decision making.

“There was a high degree of formality around the decision making of the Scottish Government.”

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Several figures in Ms Sturgeon’s government have already faced questions at the inquiry about their deletion of WhatsApp messages during the pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon has conceded messages had not been retained on her own devices but said she had managed to retrieve copies to submit to the inquiry.

She has said informal messages were handed over to the inquiry last year.

Scottish Government ministers and officials have said decisions were routinely recorded on the official system even if messages were deleted in line with policy.

Last week, Ms Sturgeon’s former chief of staff Liz Lloyd gave evidence to the inquiry.

After message exchanges between the pair were shown in evidence, Ms Lloyd denied a decision about guest limits on weddings during the pandemic was made “on the hoof”.

In one message seen by the inquiry, Ms Sturgeon referred to then prime minister Boris Johnson as a “f****** clown.”

Current First Minister Humza Yousaf, in his evidence to the inquiry last Thursday, offered an “unreserved” apology for the Scottish Government’s “frankly poor” handling of requests for WhatsApp messages.

He has announced an external review into the Government’s use of mobile messaging.

Ms Sturgeon may also face questions about her decision to provide public health expert Professor Devi Sridhar with her SNP email address to “privately” be contacted.

It is understood Ms Sturgeon forwarded any such emails to the Scottish Government and offered to supply the inquiry with them if required.

Former Scottish Government ministers Kate Forbes and John Swinney gave evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday.

Mr Swinney said he “manually” deleted messages between himself, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf in a practice which could date back to 2007.

The inquiry was earlier told that meetings of senior ministers outside the cabinet – known as the “gold command” – were not minuted.

Ms Forbes said she was “surprised” these and Scottish Government Resilience Room meetings went unminuted.

Discussing the external review into messaging, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “As the First Minister outlined, he has commissioned an externally led review into the use of mobile messaging apps and non-corporate technology in the Scottish Government.

“This will take particular account of Government interaction with statutory public inquiries.

“During this period, we will continue to keep our records management policy under review in line with legislation.

“The external review will inform a wider internal records management policy review.

“More detail on the external and internal reviews will be given in due course.”