Covid Inquiry UK LIVE: Alister Jack to give evidence after Nicola Sturgeon grilled on WhatsApp use
Don't miss a moment from today's UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
Follow along with our live blog, bringing you all updates and analysis.
Kicking off with some analysis from yesterday: Why evidence at UK Covid Inquiry will not have changed entrenched public perceptions of former first minister
Since Nicola Sturgeon’s shock decision to step down as first minister, the intense scrutiny of the 53 year-old’s leadership during the pandemic has been at the forefront of the myriad issues that have cast a long shadow over her political legacy, with serious concerns raised over how decisions were made and the mass deletion of messages.
Read more here.
Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack will be first up today - with it all, as always, kicking off at 10 am.
Buckle up.
Alister Jack briefly remarks that he offers his condolences to all those who lost their lives to Covid.
He goes on to answer questions about his role - which he says is to "safe guard devolution".
We're now on a discussion looking at the devolution of public health.
"It's a geographical border not a physical border, and the virus didn't see the border"
Mr Jack was hopeful of a combined response from both the UK and Scottish Government.
"Different rules for the sake of it"
Mr Jack hopes that in the future there's a more centralised response, should we face a similar virus.
"Something similar but slightly different"
Mr Jack has said that they often had to wait a bit longer to hear from the devolved governments after the UK Gov had outlined their plan.
He goes on to say that Scot Gov holding a press conference shortly after a COBRA meeting, where a lot of the information was revealed, broke trust.
He doesn't think it's fair to characterise the relationship between the governments as "children squabbling".
The tensions that existed, he claims, were due to the Scottish Government being ran by a nationalist party. The tension, he adds, existed before the pandemic.
"I didn't believe it for a minute"
"She could cry from one eye if she wanted to"
He has a scathing response to former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's emotional responses yesterday.
He describes himself as a champion of devolution because he "doesn't like the alternative."
I'm not sure what he means by that either...
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