Live politics: Matt Hancock Covid evidence, Alex Salmond on independence and FMQs
First Minister Humza Yousaf is set to take questions from opposition parties from noon onwards - join us to keep updated with the cut and thrust of the debates.
Live blog: Hancock inquiry, Salmond presser & FMQs
Good morning!
Good morning from a very chilly Edinburgh, where our politics teams is busy covering today's political news.
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Boris Johnson set to take the stand
Former prime minister Boris Johnson will give evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Wednesday and Thursday next week.
Independence press conference
Political correspondent Rachel Amery is at the Alba Party press conference this morning:
Hancock to give evidence all day
Matt Hancock is up now, currently being asked about "scepticism" towards the Department of Health and Social Care.
Hancock is expected to contest accusations made about his performance as health secretary during the pandemic as he appears before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
The ex-minister’s evidence is expected to take up the whole of Thursday’s sitting hours following repeated criticism made against him by a number of other witnesses.
The former Tory MP, who now sits as an independent after losing the party whip for appearing on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity reality TV show, played a key role in the UK’s pandemic response.
Salmond makes bid for independence
Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has said his Alba Party can “propel the independence movement forward”, as it unveiled plans to lodge a referendum Bill at Holyrood.
Ash Regan, who recently defected to Alba from the SNP, is to introduce a member’s Bill in a bid to force a referendum, asking Scots if the Scottish Parliament’s powers should be extended to allow it to legislate for and negotiate independence.
The plan, announced on St Andrew’s Day on Thursday, would be for such a vote to be held exactly 10 years after the September 18 referendum in 2014, when Scots rejected independence and instead voted to stay part of the UK.
The Bill will be a test of the SNP - will it publicly reject a plan for independence, risking revolt from its member and MSPs?
'Honest to a fault'
Take a look back at Matt Hancock's last appearance at the UK Covid Inquiry, when he said he was "profoundly sorry" for every death caused by the pandemic.
Here's The Scotsman's Westminster correspondent, Alex Brown, giving his verdict at the time:
Hancock: 'Toxic culture' at top of UK Government
Matt Hancock said messages containing “extremely unpleasant language and false allegations" about him shows there was an “unhealthy toxic culture” in the UK Government during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I tried to lead a positive culture, a can do culture, where if there was a problem, the question that was raised in the department was how do we fix this,” the former health secretary said.
“Unfortunately, that rubbed up against this deep unpleasantness at the centre.”
Hancock says he tried to raise alarm over Covid in January
Matt HancockWe were trying to wake up Whitehall to the scale of the problem as this wasn’t a problem that could be addressed only from the health department.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions cannot be put in place by a health department.
A health department can’t shut schools. It should have been grasped and led from the centre of government earlier. And you’ve seen evidence that repeatedly the department and I tried to make this happen.
And we were on occasions blocked, and at other times our concerns were not taken as seriously as they should have been until the very end of February.
Hancock adds that the health department’s concerns about Covid were “not taken as seriously as they should have been” until the end of February.
'Never say never' - Salmond extends olive branch
Alex Salmond says his position is still "never say never" to reconciling with Nicola Sturgeon.
Government moved slowly, says Hancock
Hancock tells the UK Covid-19 Inquiry that “getting the machine at the centre of government up and running was incredibly hard and took a huge amount of effort”.
“When it did finally get up and running at the end of February, then things started to move,” Mr Hancock told the inquiry.
“So I’ve heard these accusations that we tried to do too much. On the contrary, there was so much that needed to be done, and in some cases we just had to get on and do it. It would have been far better if instead of thinking that we were overreacting – as the Cobra machine clearly thought we were – if they had embraced the challenges, and it would have been led from the centre.”
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