Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney to give evidence to UK Covid-19 inquiry next week

The former first and deputy first ministers will attend a public hearing on Thursday

Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney will give oral evidence to the UK Covid-19 inquiry next week, the first time the two politicians will be pressed on their handling of the pandemic.

The two SNP veterans will give evidence from 10am on Thursday, June 29 as part of the inquiry’s work examining the UK’s preparedness for the pandemic.

The inquiry has already heard evidence from former prime minister David Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne. Jeane Freeman, the former health secretary in the Scottish Government, will also give evidence at 2pm on Wednesday, June 28.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday March 18, 2021.

On the morning of the same day, Caroline Lamb, the chief executive of NHS Scotland, will give evidence to the inquiry.

She will do so alongside former chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood, who was forced to resign after it was revealed she had breached her own clinical advice.

Ms Calderwood had visited her second home in Fife, around 44 miles away from her home in Edinburgh, in April 2020, breaching rules which forced people to stay at home during the early lockdown.

She was warned about her conduct by Police Scotland and apologised in public.

The evidence from the politicians and officials will be the first time the high-profile figures are interrogated about the Scottish Government’s approach to Covid-19 and, in this case, specifically the preparedness of the government in relation to a pandemic.

Scotland’s own Covid-19 inquiry is moving more slowly than the UK’s inquiry when it comes to hearing evidence, with it not yet clear when politicians will begin to give evidence in public.

It has also suffered from the resignation of the original chair of the inquiry, Lady Poole, in October last year, and a raft of resignations from senior lawyers. Lady Poole was replaced with Lord Brailsford shortly after her resignation.

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