Cole-Hamilton: Swinney must put transparency at the heart of SNP Government

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today urged John Swinney to explain how he will “make amends” to the Covid bereaved for manually deleting all his text messages and WhatsApps during the pandemic, calling on him to put transparency at the heart of the SNP Government if he becomes First Minister.  

During the pandemic, Mr Swinney served as Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary.

In January of this year, Mr Swinney told the UK Covid Inquiry that he manually deleted all his text messages with the former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. The inquiry also heard that none of his WhatsApps or “similar messages” had been retained.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have repeatedly pressed SNP ministers to explain why they deleted their Covid messages and called for government transparency and record keeping to be overhauled.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“When he set out his leadership bid earlier this week, John Swinney said that his values are based on helping some of the most vulnerable people in our society. If he is serious about that then he must make amends to all those whose lives were ripped apart by Covid.

“It was John Swinney who deleted his pandemic messages, alongside Nicola Sturgeon and other members of her top team. By doing so, they undermined the work of both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries and deprived all those who lost loved ones of the answers and understanding they are searching for.

“Lives and livelihoods hinged on the decisions that John Swinney acknowledged were happening “at an absolutely ferocious pace.” To erase the discussions that underpinned them smacks of a government that had little care for accountability and was covering its tracks.

“If John Swinney does become the next First Minister, he must explain to the Covid inquiries and to families how he will overhaul government transparency and record keeping to finally end the culture of secrecy that has existed for 17 years.”