Sturgeon deleted all of her messages from pandemic
NICOLA Sturgeon deleted all her WhatsApp messages relating to her handling of the Covid pandemic, a public inquiry heard yesterday.
The former Scottish first minister ‘retained no messages’ during the health crisis, and neither did her deputy, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry was told.
Top Holyrood civil servant Lesley Fraser said there was no way of knowing whether information contained in her WhatsApps made it on to the official record in other ways.
Lead counsel Jamie Dawson KC said a document from the devolved government showed the inquiry was unable to access WhatsApps from Ms Sturgeon.
He said: ‘It says messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones.’
Mr Dawson asked Ms Fraser whether that meant Ms Sturgeon ‘retained no [WhatsApp] messages whatsoever’ regarding her handling of Covid.
She replied: ‘That’s what that indicates to me.’
During the pandemic Ms Sturgeon said her communications would be given to any future inquiry. She is due to give evidence later this month. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, claimed deleting WhatsApps amounted to an attempt to hide information from the public.
He said the ‘shameful coverup’ amounted to a ‘digital torching of vital evidence’.
Ms Sturgeon said she did not use physical or electronic notebooks or diaries during the pandemic, and so had nothing to surrender to the inquiry.
Her deputy, John Swinney, also confirmed none of his WhatsApps were retained because they were automatically deleted, the inquiry heard.