1. Last night, the Deputy First Minister was forced to admit to this Parliament that the United Kingdom Covid inquiry sent a request to the Scottish Government for messages related to the pandemic in February of this year, yet last week, the Deputy First Minister claimed that the request was made just over a month ago. Those two statements are clearly contradictory, so how can they both be true?

The

Deputy First Minister was clear in her statement last week—members can check the

Official Report

—when she mentioned that there were initial requests from the inquiry. In my response to Anas Sarwar, I was talking about a very particular issue around specific WhatsApp groups.

Let me be absolutely clear—[

Interruption

.]

Let us hear the First Minister.

The First Minister:

I fully accept that the Scottish Government clearly interpreted the request from the inquiry in a way that was too narrow. For any shortcomings on our behalf— [

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Let us hear the First Minister, please.

The First Minister:

For any shortcomings on our behalf that have caused any distress to the families of those who have been bereaved by Covid, I apologise unreservedly, as I did last week. I reiterate and re-emphasise that apology this week.

On the back of the request from the inquiry, we have ensured that the Government has released 14,000 messages to it. When it comes to my witness statement, it includes reams of WhatsApp messages, which are unredacted. That is, of course, in very stark contrast to the actions of a Prime Minister who not only dragged the inquiry through court but has refused to hand over his own WhatsApp messages.

This is the third week that I have raised the issue at First Minister’s Question Time. [

Interruption

.]

If Scottish National Party members do not like that, they will not have liked the First Minister’s attempt at an excuse—the First Minister peddled the same false claims as the Deputy First Minister.

Let us be very clear what he said to the Parliament last week. Humza Yousaf said:

“The messages were asked for in September, just a matter of weeks ago” —[

Official Report

, 2 November; c 17.]

That is what he said. It is there in black and white in the

Official Report

. However, back in February, the UK Covid inquiry asked for

“internal and external emails, text messages or WhatsApp messages held by the Scottish Government”.

The evidence is clear. Will he admit that, in last week’s question time, he did not tell the truth?

The First Minister:

I absolutely refute that. I clearly told the chamber—members can check the

Official Report

—that I was talking about specific WhatsApp groups.

What I fully accept from the inquiry is that we have interpreted its requests too narrowly. [

Interruption

.] Subsequently, having done so—[

Interruption

.].

The Presiding Officer:

Let us hear the First Minister.

The First Minister:

We then supplied 14,000 messages to the inquiry. In my witness statement, I handed over to the inquiry the WhatsApp messages that I have, unredacted. That is in very stark contrast to a UK Government that took the inquiry to court and lost that court battle, and a Prime Minister who refuses to hand over his WhatsApp messages.

I say to Douglas Ross once again that we do not fear scrutiny, but I suspect that his party absolutely does.

That was a very brave answer from the First Minister

, when his predecessor and others in Government have been deleting messages and running away from scrutiny.

Let us look very carefully at what was said last week, because the First Minister seems to be struggling with it. The Deputy First Minister told Parliament that

“it has been just over a month”—[

Official Report

, 31 October 2023; c 66.]

since messages were requested. The First Minister claimed, in the chamber, that

“The messages were asked for in September, just a matter of weeks ago.”—[

Official Report

, 2 November 2023; c 17.]

That is what was said, and it is in the Parliament’s

Official Report

. The two most senior people in the Scottish Government stated that the UK Covid inquiry only requested the messages in September. It was not a slip of the tongue, and it was not an honest mistake; it was deliberate.

Now the UK Covid inquiry, which is tasked with getting answers for grieving families, has had to demand that the SNP comes to this Parliament to tell the truth about the timeline of when the requests were made. Why did Humza Yousaf and the SNP make those false claims?

The First Minister:

I urge Douglas Ross to once again read the statement from the Deputy First Minister, which says—

I have.

The First Minister:

Well, if Douglas Ross has read it, he will have seen, in black and white, that the Deputy First Minister referenced the initial requests. It was entirely understandable and appropriate for the inquiry to ask us to then provide the absolutely full context for the requests, which we did—without any hesitation or arguing back with the inquiry—to ensure that we were transparent and accountable.

I understand why Douglas Ross wants to obsess about process. We have, of course, handed over the 14,000 messages—[

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members! Let us hear the First Minister.

The First Minister:

— and I have handed over reams of WhatsApp messages from myself.

I absolutely acknowledge the distress that has been caused to families who have been bereaved by Covid. I apologise unreservedly to them. Although the process is important, the substance of those messages is important, too. I can say with total confidence, even though I have not seen some of the messages from individual witnesses, that not a single Scottish Government minister said,

“let the bodies pile high”—[

Interruption

.]

That, of course, was said by none other than Boris Johnson—a man under whom Douglas Ross served in Government, whom he defended to the hilt—[

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members! First Minister—briefly, please.

The First Minister:

He is a man whom Douglas Ross claimed was honest. Douglas Ross should be ashamed of himself for his defence of Boris Johnson.

Humza Yousaf should be ashamed of himself not just for that answer but for treating this Parliament, and the families of grieving victims, with contempt.

Let us be very clear. The UK Covid inquiry repeatedly asked the SNP Government for WhatsApp messages. Last year, it asked whether the messages existed. It asked for the messages themselves in February this year, and again in March, in July and in August, but the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister claim that none of that ever happened. They have been caught red handed in a cover-up. They knowingly told the chamber statements that were false. Is it not beyond doubt that Humza Yousaf and Shona Robison misled the Parliament?

The First Minister:

That is not the case. Once again, I refer Douglas Ross to the

Official Report

, in which, in black and white, the Deputy First Minister, talked about “initial requests”. I fully accept that, as a Government, we interpreted those requests too narrowly. [

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Members!

The First Minister:

T o take corrective action, we have ensured that we have submitted 14,000 messages. I have ensured that I have handed over the messages that I have, in unredacted form.

However, let us not take away from the substance in favour of the process issues with which Douglas Ross is so obsessed. This week, Simon Case described working in Boris Johnson’s Government as being “like taming wild animals”. That, of course, was a Government of which Douglas Ross was a member. I cannot even read out the messages that Dominic Cummings handed to the inquiry. However, we heard from that inquiry—[

Interruption

.]

Douglas Ross will not want to hear this, so I can understand why Conservative members are trying to shout it down, but this is an exceptionally important point.

In the inquiry, in the past couple of weeks, we have heard that there was a deliberate attempt by the UK Government to exclude devolved Governments from decision making. During the early days of the pandemic, Douglas Ross was a minister in the Scotland Office. Did he purposely try to exclude devolved Administrations and, indeed, this Government from decision making?

The Presiding Officer:

First Minister—

The First Minister:

At a time when people right across the UK needed serious leadership during a serious time, they had “wild animals”—according to Simon Case—running the UK Government.