Overview

• Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish First Minister, is facing a criminal investigation over allegations of deleting WhatsApp messages relevant to the UK Covid Inquiry.
• Sturgeon clarified that the inquiry does have messages from her, which were not retained on her device but were later obtained and submitted to the inquiry last year.
• Scottish government policy actively encourages the deletion of conversations on apps like WhatsApp, once the relevant information has been saved centrally.
• Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton accused Sturgeon of 'deceiving' bereaved families and demanded she face scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament.
• The UK Government had written to all devolved governments several times asking for material of potential relevance to be kept and not destroyed.