Criticism mounts in Glasgow as Covid inquiry continues
By Lewis Rae, Amanda Telfer and Harris Little
The former first minister is under fire in new Covid inquiry
The UK Covid inquiry began in 2022 to examine the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The inquiry began with pressure from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group who were demanding a judge-led statutory public inquiry into the pandemic and how it was handled by the UK government.
The Scottish Covid Inquiry opened on the 26th of July 2023. Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was questioned yesterday in Edinburgh as part of the ongoing inquiry.
Sturgeon is under fire for deleting WhatsApp messages sent between politicians in 2022 during the pandemic. One of these messages included the First Minister calling Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “f***ing clown”.
Sturgeon claims that no pandemic decisions were made via WhatsApp and that she regrets not announcing the lockdown earlier.
During her testimony, Sturgeon at times fought back tears. Not everyone felt sympathy for this, with lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is acting for the bereaved relatives, suggested that this was an act, saying that Sturgeon delivered a “polished performance”. Meanwhile, one group member, Pamela Thomas, said: “Crocodile tears aren’t washing with me.”
On the streets of Glasgow, the public had strong opinions on the matter, with many people affected by the pandemic.
Wendy Gordon, who was visiting from Aberdeen, admitted that she does not believe Sturgeon when she denies Covid decisions being political, which was a line of questioning when she appeared before the inquiry.
Gordon said: “I don’t think I do believe her. We didn’t know what we were facing. I will be honest, I’m not an SNP supporter so I’m not sure.”
Maureen Brown, from Springburn in Glasgow, believed that the First Minster at the time did the best she could. However, she does believe that we had room for improvement.
She said: “I think that there were a lot of other countries who handled it a lot better than us.”
Peter McCauley, a tourist from England, said: “Living in the northeast of England I thought she was handling it better than Boris Johnson. It looks like her reputation is now tarnished but I thought she was on it at the time.”
At today's First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, First Minister Humza Yousaf faced scrutiny from opposition leaders.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar questioned him about why protecting the SNP is more important to him than getting to the truth about what really went on during the pandemic.
Yousaf defended himself by saying it is a “complete mischaracterisation” of what was heard at the Covid inquiry.
The First Minister said: “Yes, we should have done better on retention policy of those informal communications. But in the course of this pandemic, it came to the important decisions that helped to save lives. I believe we took the decisions for the right reasons.”
Yousaf added: "I promise those who have been bereaved by Covid, not only will we continue to co-operate with both inquiries, we will also learn lessons from those inquiries too."