Nicola Sturgeon’s WhatsApp messages from the pandemic have all been deleted, the Scottish Covid Inquiry has heard.
At a hearing in Edinburgh, the inquiry was told that the former Scottish first minister had “retained no messages whatsoever” from the period.
Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the inquiry, referred to a document provided by the Scottish Government about what WhatsApp messages it could provide.
He said: “Under the box ‘Nicola Sturgeon’, it says that messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones, unable to retrieve messages.
“What that tends to suggest is at the time that request was made Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister of Scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic.”
Ms Sturgeon, who was widely praised for her handling of the pandemic, has previously refused to say if she kept Covid-era WhatsApp messages.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said on Thursday: “In the interests of everyone who has been impacted by the Covid pandemic, Nicola is committed to full transparency to both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries.
“Any messages she had, she handled and dealt with in line with the Scottish Government’s policies.
“Nicola has provided a number of written statements to the UK inquiry – totalling hundreds of pages – and welcomes the opportunity to give oral evidence to the inquiry again this month when she will answer all questions put to her.”
