BETRAYAL OF TRUST

Nicola Sturgeon says she can't recover messages because she gave phone away

- CHRIS MCCALL

NICOLA Sturgeon gave away the mobile phone she used during the first year of the Covid pandemic to a family member.

The former first minister used a personal phone throughout the outbreak but claims she can't recover messages from the device she used in 2020 because she gave it to a relative as a gift.

The former SNP leader has faced a barrage of criticism after she admitted she failed to retain WhatsApps or texts sent in 2020 and 2021 to government ministers or civil servants.

Now Anas Sarwar, the Labour leader, has accused leading SNP figures of a "betrayal of trust" after their WhatsApp admissions to the UK Covid probe.

He said: "The most senior ministers and officials knowingly deleted evidence to hide how they operated during the pandemic.

"They subverted the Covid Inquiry and broke freedom of information laws and they plotted how to maximise their own political advantage, while thousands of Scots fought for their lives.

"It is a betrayal of the trust the people of Scotland put into this SNP government.

Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: "The former first minister broke her promise to bereaved families by deleting every single one of her Covid WhatsApps without handing them over to the Covid inquiry.

"As a result, we will never know exactly what was on Nicola Sturgeon's phone.

"Now, reports have emerged that the phone itself was handed over to a family member.

"There was a secrecy and a carelessness at the heart of Nicola Sturgeon's government.

"It is only right that she address these concerns in a personal statement to the Scottish Parliament and face questions from MSPs." Sturgeon previously told the inquiry she had used a personal mobile phone throughout the pandemic.