Nicola Sturgeon breaks silence after Covid Inquiry reveals she deleted pandemic WhatsApp messages
NICOLA Sturgeon has broken her silence after the UK Covid Inquiry confirmed she deleted her Whatsapp messages.
Yesterday it was revealed the former First Minister had retained none of her messages from throughout the pandemic.
During the enquiry, Jamie Dawson KC referred to a rundown from the Scottish Government about what messages they could provide.
He said: "Under the box 'Nicola Sturgeon' it says that ' Messages were not retained, they were deleted in routing tidying up of inboxes or changing of phones... Unable to retrieve messages.'
"So, what that tends to suggest is at the time that request was made Nicola Sturgeon, the former First Minister of Scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic."
The revelation sparked public outcry and accusations of "secrecy" from Labour and the Tories.
But Ms Sturgeon has now released a statement in which she denies there was anything sinister at play.
Taking to X, the Glasgow Southside MSP wrote: "I do not intend to give a running commentary on the ongoing inquiry.
"Instead, out of respect to all those impact by the pandemic, I will answer questions directly and openly when I give evidence at the end of this month.
"However, in light of recent coverage, there are certain points I feel it important to make clear.
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"Contrary to the impression given in some coverage, the Inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means.
"Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the inquiry last year.
"To be clear, I conducted the Covid response through formal processes from my office in St Andrews House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform.
"I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups.
"The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited.
"Also any handwritten notes made by me were passed to my private office to be dealt with and recorded as appropriate.
"Through the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish Government policy.
"I did my level best to lead Scotland through the pandemic as safely as possible - and shared my thinking with the country on a daily basis.
"I did not get every decision right - far from it - but I was motivated only, and at all times, by the determination to keep people as safe as possible."
The revelation came as Mr Dawson quizzed Government official, director-general corporate, Lesly Fraser.
It also emerged then deputy First Minister John Swinney had also not kept his messages after an "auto delete" was set up on his phone.
The confirmation of the mass deletion came after reports in October that Ms Sturgeon and other senior Scottish Government figures had wiped messages sparking anger at the time from Covid bereaved families and opposition politicians.
In November, Ms Sturgeon repeatedly refused to confirm or deny that she had deleted messages, claiming the matter was “confidential” - despite First Minister Humza Yousaf and ex-Holyrood Finance Secretary Kate Forbes saying they hadn’t deleted their own messages.
Ms Sturgeon was also asked in August 2021 by Ciaran Jenkins of Channel 4 News if she would disclose any emails, WhatsApps, private emails to the inquiry.
We revealed in December how in 2021, Scottish Government chiefs drew up controversial rules to wipe ministers' WhatsApps every month - after claiming it would be too tricky to keep them.
Officials including Scotland’s most senior civil servant at the time, Leslie Evans, weakened draft guidance which had demanded the storage of entire conversations.
It’s thought the finalised policy for ministers and staff ultimately led to the destruction of potential evidence for the ongoing Covid public inquiries.
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In November, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison vowed to hand over around 14,000 messages to the UK inquiry by a legal deadline of November 6, “mostly concerning routine coordination of work and meetings by officials”.
She said these were “mainly WhatsApp messages from various groups and individuals over the period of the pandemic”, and that “messages from ministers and former ministers are included”.