Ex-first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussions about crisis
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims some decisions were too centralised and secretive.
The former first minister, who led Scotland’s response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of crisis “incredibly stressful”, and at times wished she had not been in charge.
An admission that crucial discussions with her closest advisers during private “gold command” meetings should have been recorded.
She regretted not telling people about Scotland’s first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that “had the potential to undermine public confidence”.
She acknowledged she should not have promised journalists in August 2021 that all her WhatsApp messages would be kept, knowing she had been systematically deleting them.
It was inappropriate for her to give the public health expert Devi Sridhar her private SNP email address.
She “thought wrongly” that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home.
