WhatsApp Scotland row: Humza Yousaf admits to Scottish Government policy to delete WhatsApp messages

Humza Yousaf has made a startling admission in relation to the Scottish Government and WhatsApp messages

Humza Yousaf has admitted the Scottish Government did have a policy in place during the Covid pandemic to “routinely delete” WhatsApp messages.

In a startling admission made during an interview on Monday with LBC, the First Minister said he had kept WhatsApp messages himself, but shed new light on what Government policy was in place.

It had previously been reported that WhatsApp messages held by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and other senior figures during the pandemic could have been deleted, but that it was Government policy for ministers and officials to use their own discretion around whether to retain these messages or not.

Mr Yousaf told LBC: “We had a social media messaging policy which actually required us to routinely delete WhatsApp messages. That was the policy at the time.

"Now the ‘do-not-destroy’ notice is one that I expect everybody to comply with – Scottish Government ministers, former ministers, and, of course, Government officials and clinical directors and clinical advisers. That’s my expectation.”

The Scotsman had on Sunday asked the Scottish Government to clarify why the messages no longer exist, and when they were deleted.

Mr Yousaf appeared to refute reports he did not have any WhatsApp messages to provide to the UK Covid inquiry.

First Minister Humza Yousaf speaks to the media during a visit to meet young people to discuss mental health support at the National Museum Of Scotland in Edinburgh. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

“I have kept WhatsApp messages and I fully intend to hand them over to the Covid inquiry, whatever the Covid inquiry wishes to see I’m more than happy to do that,” he said.

Mr Yousaf said he was confident Ms Sturgeon “can speak for herself” in terms of what she had retained, what she hadn’t and the “rationale for that”.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s legal team has said it believes the “majority” of WhatsApp messages shared among Scottish Government officials during the pandemic “have not been retained”.

As part of the inquiry, key decision makers – including ministers, former ministers and senior civil servants – have been asked to disclose communications, including those through informal channels such as Meta-owned WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams or Signal.

Scottish Labour has written to Permanent Secretary John-Paul Marks asking for an urgent update on the state of data retention in the Scottish Government.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison is expected to give a statement on the issue as early as Tuesday at Holyrood.