Analysis: Nicola Sturgeon plays party politics at Covid inquiry and warned she's in a 'witness box, not a soap box'

The former First Minister had real points to make but they got lost in the memory of another format.

Nicola Sturgeon appeared at the Covid inquiry on Thursday with genuine questions to answer, and a real belief she’d be able to do so.

As a veteran of the exhaustive Covid press conferences held during the pandemic, the former First Minister is comfortable facing challenging questions about how she managed the crisis.The palpable difference then though, of course, was when journalists asked questions she didn’t like, which was often, she could tell them off, or fall back on the stock answer that everything since the beginning of time is the fault of the UK Government.

But speaking in London, Ms Sturgeon seemed to misread the circumstances, getting warned she was in a “witness box, not a soap box”.

Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon leaves after giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry at Dorland House in London.

The issue began when she spoke of her regret at diverting resources from emergency planning to plan for the possibility of a no deal Brexit. Questioned if this was a “false economy”, she said: “I think every aspect of Brexit has been a false economy.”

While Brexit may have had an impact, it felt not across the detail to discuss its impact, but not mention Matt Hancock’s claim that no deal actually meant medicines were stockpiled when the pandemic hit, stopping Britain from running out.

There were elements of reflection, she admitted she did not “get everything right”, and claimed her Government refused to accept the worst-case scenario of the pandemic.

She said: “It was our determination from the from the outset to suppress it to the maximum.”

In truth, this was not the most informative of appearances, no doubt with further questions being saved for future sessions with Ms Sturgeon.

There are questions to be asked about vaccine procurement being made possible by the UK, or the impact of closing food businesses when they were open in England, but for now, we just know Scotland had no plan for a non-flu pandemic, much like the rest of Britain.

She added: “The questions in my mind, literally every day, are not so much did we lack a plan but did we lack capabilities for dealing with a pandemic of the nature of Covid-19?”. We will have to wait for the answers.