Cole-Hamilton responds to news that Sturgeon deleted all Covid WhatsApps

Responding to the news emerging from the UK Covid Inquiry, which has today heard that former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon “retained no messages whatsoever” relating to the pandemic and that Deputy First Minister John Swinney deployed WhatsApp's autodelete, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:  

“This is rotten to the core. Everyone knew from the start that there would be a public inquiry, so to delete messages on an industrial scale is shameful. Nicola Sturgeon made an unambiguous commitment on national television to retain all records and hand them over to judges.

“Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney have chosen to undermine the work of the inquiries and by assuring Parliament that they would hand over all material, they have in fact misled it.  

“Even Richard Nixon didn’t destroy the Watergate tapes.  

“Bereaved families at the heart of this may forever be deprived of the answers and understanding they are looking for, and with it closure.

“This is one of the biggest scandals in Scottish political history. Nicola Sturgeon must urgently attend Parliament to make a personal statement and stop dodging questions.”