by The UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry has revealed Nicola Sturgeon to be a “liar” and a “fraud”, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has insisted, as he accused the former first minister of “deleting vital evidence” through messages Delete WhatsApp from the time of the. the Covid Pandemic.
With successive Scottish Government ministers giving evidence to the UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry over the past two weeks, the Conservative leader sought to put pressure on SNP ministers.
Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister of Scotland, who appeared before the inquiry on Wednesday, insisted she only “rarely” used informal messages.
She added that she had deleted these messages, in line with official advice, saying that all “significant” points had been transferred to the corporate record.
Former deputy first minister John Swinney and others, such as the Scottish Government’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, also told the inquiry they had deleted messages.
“Nobody will ever refer to Mr. Swinney as honest John again,” Mr. Ross said.
“And sleekit Sturgeon will be remembered for destroying vital evidence on an industrial scale, denying grieving families the truth they deserve.”
He spoke out in a debate at Holyrood in which the Tories called for Mr Sturgeon and Mr Swinney, as well as the current First Minister Huzma Yousaf, to be referred to the independent adviser to see if they have breached the ministerial code.
He made the comments saying Mr Yousaf “told the inquiry he had deleted all his messages but told the public he had kept them”.
As public inquiries took place across the UK and Scotland into the way the pandemic was handled, Mr Ross hit out at the “appalling culture of secrecy” which he said was “throughout every level of this rotten SNP Government”.
He added: “We now know that the perception that the Scottish Government was better, that it was whiter than white, was achieved only because they were ferociously destroying every piece of evidence that would show otherwise.”
Recalling that Ms Sturgeon had previously said nothing would be “off limits” to the inquiries, Mr Ross told MSP at the time she made those comments she had already deleted her messages.
“This woman was a fraud,” he said.
Describing the Scottish Government’s lack of transparency on such matters as “unbelievable”, Mr Ross told MSP: “Nicola Sturgeon should be apologizing for destroying vital evidence.
“Nicola Sturgeon should apologize for misleading the press and public about deleting those messages.
“Nicola Sturgeon should apologize for breaking a clear promise to be open.
“Nicola Sturgeon should apologize for her secrecy, dishonesty and arrogant disregard for transparency.”
He continued: “The rules of this Parliament prevent me from describing Nicola Sturgeon using the only language that I think truly reflects what she did.
“So while I’m not allowed to say that Nicola Sturgeon is a liar and that the UK’s Covid Inquiry exposed her lies, let me say this – the evidence proves that the former first minister made statements of any an affair she knew to be false and she destroyed key evidence. he knew he would be asked.”
The current Deputy First Minister of Scotland, Shona Robison, insisted, however, that she did not believe that the deletion of the messages had “impeded the work of the inquiries”.
She added: “I believe they are strong and will find the truth and put on record their analysis of what they believe happened.
“They will hold politicians across the islands accountable for the decisions they made.”
The Deputy First Minister told MSP that the Scottish Government had given “more than 19,000 documents and almost 28,000 messages” to the Inquiry.
And she hit out at the Tories for what she said was a “partisan” debate, which was taking place at Holyrood “before the UK Covid Inquiry has even finished taking evidence in Scotland”.
Meanwhile, SNP backbencher Ruth Maguire accused the Conservatives of being “big-name” in the debate.
Ms Maguire said: “I’m not the only person in this room who has lost someone during the pandemic and this debate will be quite touching.
“We are serious politicians in a serious place, it would be good if we could talk about the actual issues, rather than being a big stand.”
However, Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar accused the Scottish Government of having a “culture of secrecy and cover-up”.
Mr Sarwar, speaking to journalists at Westminster, said there was a “huge sense of betrayal” among the public about what had happened.
He told how people in Scotland thought the first minister was “someone who stood up, told the truth and was straight up with them and wanted the best way through the pandemic”.
But Mr Sarwar said: “There is now such a breach of that trust, and such a betrayal, that will rightly anger so many people across the country.”
He added: “The SNP have been caught out. The veneer has been put around Nicola Sturgeon’s presentation. Trust has been broken with the people of Scotland.”
