Sturgeon says Covid inquiry does have pandemic messages from her device | Nicola Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon has said the UK Covid inquiry “does have messages” between her and those she communicated with during the pandemic, after it emerged they had been deleted from her device.

The former first minister of Scotland posted on X that she will “answer questions directly and openly” when she gives evidence to the inquiry at the end of January.

It comes after the inquiry, taking evidence in Scotland, heard on Friday that all WhatsApp messages sent and received by Sturgeon during the pandemic were erased.

Sturgeon said: “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.”

Sturgeon said that Scotland’s Covid response was conducted through “formal processes” and not through WhatsApp or any other informal platform.

“The number of people I communicated with through informal messaging at all was limited,” Sturgeon added. Moreover, she said, any handwritten notes she made were passed to her private office to be “dealt with and recorded as appropriate”.

She accepted she did not get every decision right during the pandemic but said her motivation throughout was to “keep people as safe as possible”.