Sturgeon urged to ‘tell the truth’ at Covid Inquiry

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to “tell the truth” to the Covid Inquiry as bereaved families said their trust in her had been “broken”.

The former First Minister is due to give evidence on Wednesday, where she will be questioned about wiping her Whatsapp messages and pandemic decision making within the Scottish Government .

A poll, released yesterday, showed that most Scots no longer trust Ms Sturgeon, a remarkable turnaround since the pandemic when she enjoyed skyhigh approval ratings.

However, the revelation that she deleted all of her Whatsapp messages, despite promising that they would be made available to the inquiry, has caused a major scandal. Ms Sturgeon’s reputation has also been damaged by an unresolved police investigation into SNP finances, in which she was arrested and her home raided by detectives

Maggie Waterton, of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group, said many families felt “their trust had been broken, both in Ms Sturgeon and some of the senior clinical advisers” after hearing evidence of the past fortnight, while the inquiry has been sitting in Scotland.

“I’d really like for the former First Minister to tell the truth, to be honest, open, transparent, and to demonstrate accountability in her responses to the inquiry,” Ms Waterton, whose mother and husband died from Covid, said.

“The Scottish Government rhetoric is about it being a government of transparency and accountability and the reality seems far from that. So we want [witnesses] to tell the truth so we can truly learn lessons going forward.”