Covid Inquiry UK LIVE: Alister Jack to give evidence after Nicola Sturgeon grilled on WhatsApp use
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He has said that he read through the messages, and decide himself, that it was fine to delete the messages between himself and Health Secretary at the time, Matt Hancock.
Border crossing
"UK borders and border force are reserved within the Scotland Act"
Mr Jack doesn't believe that Scot Gov shouldn't and couldn't close the border - something which was discussed but never enforced during the pandemic.
Again, for the second time today, Mr Jack says "It's a geographical border not a physical border"
"I was quite vocal on the fact it was a geographical and not a physical border". Third time today for anyone keeping score.
He believes that the conversation around border control during the pandemic was there to "play to their audience".
"Their audience was the people of Scotland" was Jamie Dawson KC's response.
Mr Jack is saying again, that if there is a future pandemic, decisions should be made centrally, and then devolution used in the dissemination.
We've now moved on to the Covid Bereaved representative asking questions...
Starting with the deleted WhatsApp.
Mr Jack didn't consider that his messages were important. So deleted them to "free up his phone memory".
"If I could turn the clock back, knowing what I know now, I would seek a better solution. I'm a bit of a Luddite, I'm the only one with out a social media account"
Questioning from Scottish Covid Bereaved
Alister Jack cleared messages from his phone in November 2021 and said he had not considered retaining them to help him recall events from the pandemic.
Asked by Claire Mitchell KC on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group if he had any thoughts about keeping the messages, he replied: “No, because I was keen for my phone to start working again.
“More importantly I knew that I did no government decisions by WhatsApp and that will be borne out by WhatsApps from ministers you do have.
“That is something I was not in the habit of doing.”
Luddite
Alister Jack has said he is a “bit of a Luddite” and if he could “turn the clock back” he would have sought a different solution to his phone storage issues.
Claire Mitchell KC asked him during the Covid inquiry: “Do you think its a good idea if these contemporaneous records are somehow available and kept to be stored so in the event of a public inquiry those matters can be placed before an inquiry?
Mr Jack said: “I do. If I could turn the clock back knowing what I know now, I would have sought a different solution for my lack of storage capacity
“I’m a bit of a Luddite, I’m the only member of the Cabinet not to have any social media accounts but that’s no excuse.
“I regret that I deleted my entire account, I regret it for a number of reasons.
“I regret it because of the inquiry, I regret it because I hadn’t saved some family pictures and bits and pieces.
“I think these matters, all matters relating to an event like this, should be recorded within the offices of relevant ministers.”
That's all for now
Alister Jack has finished giving evidence now, that concludes the testimonies we'll hear during the Edinburgh hearings of the UK Covid Inquiry.
Thank you for joining us, it's been quite a ride!
A summary of the day's events
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has said Nicola Sturgeon “could cry from one eye if she wanted to” as he suggested the former first minister used the pandemic to underline the case for Scottish independence.
Appearing before the UK Covid Inquiry in Edinburgh on Thursday, the Secretary of State for Scotland took aim at Ms Sturgeon’s appearance the previous day.
During her testimony, Ms Sturgeon repeatedly fought back tears as she claimed she took accusations she sought a different approach to the virus from the UK government to advance the cause of Scottish independence “very, very seriously”.
Read more here.
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