How deep did Sturgeon’s culture of secrecy go?

Covid Inquiry shines light on a government so paranoid that even Finance Secretary was not invited to vital meetings

Given the SNP’S informal policy of “wheesht for indy” – stay quiet about problems and don’t criticise the Scottish Government – had been an open secret for years until Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation opened the floodgates of internal party dissent, it should perhaps be no surprise that she and other ministers deleted Whatsapp messages en masse, even after the Covid Inquiry had asked, in June 2021, that they be retained.

However, yesterday’s testimony at the UK Covid Inquiry suggests that Sturgeon’s commitment to a culture of secrecy was on an entirely different level. It seems that even leading members of her own Cabinet were excluded from vitally important meetings – and may not have been told that they were even being held.

When the Covid pandemic broke out, Kate Forbes was Finance Secretary and should have been present at discussions about matters like lockdown, which clearly had a serious impact on the economy. And yet she was missing from the first meetings of Sturgeon’s “Gold Command” group, the inner circle that appears to have made many of the big calls. Asked why, Forbes told the inquiry: “I wasn’t invited. I’m not even sure I was aware that they existed, because I was invited to my first one not really knowing what it was until someone explained it.”

It is not known whether anyone at the Gold Command meetings questioned Forbes’ absence because – obviously – no minutes that could later become the subject of freedom of information requests were kept.

The business of government is not an entirely open book, and nor should it be.

However, democracy and secrecy do not sit easily together. People need to know what their governments are doing if they are to vote in an informed way. Politicians whose priorities include making sure internal dissent is silenced and records are not kept are tacitly admitting they think the public would judge their actions in a negative way.

Those who shun the light and prefer to skulk in the shadows are generally not to be trusted. Today, as she gives evidence to the Covid Inquiry, Sturgeon should have nowhere to hide.