NOTHING TO HIDE

Sturgeon vows to cooperate fully with Covid inquiry but refuses FOUR TIMES to say if she deleted texts | Deputy First Minister pledges to hand in 14,000 WhatsApp messages in one week's time after legal order

- PAUL HUTCHEON and CHRIS McCALL

NICOLA Sturgeon refused four times to say whether she had deleted WhatsApp messages during Covid. 

But the former first minister pledged to cooperate fully with the UK coronavirus inquiry and said: “I have nothing to hide.”

Her comments came after Deputy First Minister Shona Robison said 14,000 WhatsApps would be handed over within a week after the government received a legal order.

Humza Yousaf is under pressure over the deletion of WhatsApp messages during Covid when Sturgeon was FM.

The UK inquiry heard last week that, despite repeated requests, no Scottish Government WhatsApp messages had been handed over to the UK probe – and concerns were raised about deleted messages.

Sturgeon, Yousaf, national clinical director Jason Leitch and chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith are among the dozens of figures who have so far not handed over messages.

Sturgeon was asked several times by reporters if she had deleted messages.

She replied: "Let me say that I am cooperating fully and constructively with the inquiry. I am committed to full transparency. I've just submitted my third written statement to the UK inquiry.

Asked again, she said: “Any messages I had, I handled and dealt with in line with the policies set out by the Deputy First Minister.”

And a third time: “I’ve already set out and will continue to set out to the inquiry how I operated, how I worked during the Covid pandemic, what I hold, what I don’t hold and the reasons for that.

“I did not manage the Covid response by WhatsApp. For example, I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups, and managed the Covid response from my office in St Andrew’s House from early morning to late at night, with face-to-face meetings with those there.”