Cole-Hamilton presses government over deleted messages

Responding to the Scottish Government's statement on deleted messages this afternoon, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"Thousands of grieving families are looking to these inquiries for answers and UK Government WhatsApps show minute-by-minute what was really going on behind the scenes and how decisions were made.

"It shows the discussions behind an order were often as important as the order itself.

"Did those life and death judgements ever hinge around Nicola Sturgeon’s desire just to be different from Boris? We may never know.

"Messages deleted at the very top of the Scottish Government erase the process by which ministers weighed the politics and the science behind the decisions required of them.

"If anyone else had acted in such a conspiratorial way, the SNP would now be in uproar.

"This will all come out in the wash. So can I ask the Deputy First Minister if she personally believes the Covid bereaved families will ever see the correspondence of most importance to them; those messages sent to and from Nicola Sturgeon?"