All Nicola Sturgeon’s pandemic WhatsApp messages deleted, Covid inquiry hears

All of former SNP chief Nicola Sturgeon’s pandemic-era WhatsApp messages have been deleted, the Covid public inquiry has heard.

At a listening to in Edinburgh, the official investigation into the Covid disaster was informed that the previous first minister of Scotland had “retained no messages whatsoever”.

Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the inquiry, revealed a doc supplied by the Scottish authorities about which WhatsApp messages it might present and stated that every one Ms Sturgeon’s messages had been deleted.

He stated: “Under the box ‘Nicola Sturgeon’, it says that messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones, unable to retrieve messages.”

The counsel stated it confirmed that Ms Sturgeon “had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic”.

Lesley Fraser, the director basic company of the Scottish authorities, agreed, saying: “That’s what that indicates to me.”

Labour MSP Jackie Bailie stated the revelation was “nothing short of horrifying” and “shows the lengths that Nicola Sturgeon is prepared to go to in order to prevent justice for Covid-bereaved families”.

And the Scottish Liberal Democrat chief Alex Cole-Hamilton stated: “This is one of the biggest scandals in Scottish political history.”

Scottish Conservative chief Douglas Ross stated each Ms Sturgeon had “huge questions to answer over their conduct in the wake of this devastating revelation”.

Mr Ross stated Ms Sturgeon’s popularity “now lies in tatters”, including: “Secrecy and evasion were the hallmarks of her government – and this shameful cover-up, which amounts to a digital torching of vital evidence, is the most scandalous example of it.”

Ms Sturgeon had repeatedly refused to disclose whether or not she deleted messages. The ex-SNP chief had additionally given an “assurance” about transparency when she’s going to grilled a Covid briefing again in August 2021.

The then-Scottish first minister was requested if she might “guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you’ve been using them”.

Ms Sturgeon replied: “I think if you understand statutory public inquiries you would know that even if I wasn’t prepared to give that assurance – which for the avoidance of doubt I am – then I wouldn’t have the ability.”

The inquiry additionally noticed a message from Scotland’s nationwide scientific director Prof Jason Leitch, which prompt he deleted WhatsApp messages every single day.

In the message trade, Ken Thomson, the previous director-general for technique on the Scottish authorities, stated he felt “moved to remind you at this point that this channel is FOI-recoverable”.

Prof Leitch – after one other member of the group beneficial they “clear the chat” – stated: “WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.”

Mr Dawson requested Mr Thomson if there was a “culture” of senior figures within the Scottish authorities deleting messages “in order to defeat the very purposes for which the policies are set up”.

The former senior civil servant replied: “I need to give you a longer answer to this question, but the short answer is no.”

Aamer Anwar, the lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved campaigners, stated: “The fact that deletion took place on an ‘industrial scale’ is a devastating betrayal of the many promises made by the Scottish government for full transparency and disclosure.”

The Covid inquiry is at present finishing up three weeks of hearings specializing in choices in Scotland in the course of the pandemic, with Ms Sturgeon set to be the star witness.

Last month, Rishi Sunak stated he had no messages remaining from the pandemic interval. The prime minister stated he was not suggested that he ought to save WhatsApp messages from his telephone.

Boris Johnson additionally informed the inquiry he had been unable to retrieve his WhatsApp messages for an important interval at first of the disaster, suggesting this was as a result of his telephone had been reset.

Responding to the outrage on Thursday, a spokesperson for Ms Sturgeon stated on Thursday: “In the interests of everyone who has been impacted by the Covid pandemic, Nicola is committed to full transparency to both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries.”

“Any messages she had, she handled and dealt with in line with the Scottish government’s policies,” the spokesperson added, saying Ms Sturgeon “will answer all questions put to her” when she seems on the inquiry.