THERE WAS NO PLAN

A MAN whose son died alone during the pandemic blasted Nicola Sturgeon yesterday after she admitted Scotland had "no plan" for a Covid outbreak

- ANDREW QUINN

Alan Inglis, 53, said he felt "let down after listening to the former first minister answer questions on how the Scottish Government prepared for the outbreak.

In her first major assignment since her arrest in the SNP finance probe, Sturgeon and former deputy John Swinney were grilled at the UK Covid Inquiry in London.

In a shock admission Sturgeon said there was "thinking" in the Scottish Government around a non-flu infectious disease pandemic but added: "What there wasn't, and I think this is the significant gap, is a set plan.

"The questions in my mind, literally every day, are not so much, 'Did we lack a plan?' but, 'Did we lack capabilities for dealing with a pandemic of the nature of Covid-19?'

"And obviously I'm talking there about contact tracing, testing and infrastructure in particular."

Sturgeon said she "deeply regrets" having to divert resources from emergency planning to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

She added: "We had no choice but to do that planning. I deeply regret any consequences that had for our emergency planning in other areas."

Scottish Covid Bereaved families were in London to listen to the first minister's evidence. Among them was Alan Inglis, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, whose 34-year-old son Calum died at HMP Addiewell just 12 days after testing positive for Covid in 2021.

He said: "There was an awful lot of information given out and a lot of the answers were skirted around. I would have preferred clearer yes/no answers. I feel let down."

Telling how his son died in prison, he added: "Calum was an inmate at Addiewell. He became unwell and sought medical assistance.

"He was tested for Covid and returned a positive result. He was isolated in his cell but deteriorated and sought further medical assistance.