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LONDON (AP) \u2014 A former leader of Scotland acknowledged on Wednesday that she deleted WhatsApp messages sent during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she insisted that anything of relevance to how policymaking was conducted had been made available for the public record.<\/p>\n
Nicola Sturgeon<\/a><\/span><\/span> told the United Kingdom’s public inquiry into the pandemic<\/a> that she didn’t use informal messaging such as WhatsApp to make decisions. Although Scotland is part of the U.K., its government has powers over matters relating to public health.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the pandemic I did not make extensive use of informal messaging and certainly did not use it to make decisions,\u201d she said in Edinburgh during what was at times tearful and emotional testimony to the inquiry.<\/p>\n Sturgeon, 53, became first minister in 2014 after Scotland voted to remain part of the U.K. in a referendum and was in office until her surprise resignation in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sturgeon won plaudits for her handling of the pandemic. She was widely seen to have been on top of things, and clear in her public pronouncements during the pandemic, especially when compared to former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led policy in England and who also gave evidence to the inquiry<\/a> late last year.<\/p>\n During her testimony, Sturgeon became tearful, telling the inquiry that there was a \u201clarge part\u201d of her that wishes she hadn’t been first minister during the pandemic.<\/p>\n Her reputation has taken a battering over the past few months, especially in the wake of her arrest last June<\/a> over a police investigation into the finances of the governing, pro-independence Scottish National Party. She hasn’t been charged and insists that she has done nothing wrong.<\/p>\n Sturgeon’s standing has been further dented by the recent revelation that her WhatsApp messages had been deleted, which has led to questions about her trustworthiness or whether she has anything to hide.<\/p>\n While Sturgeon conceded that WhatsApp had become \u201ctoo common\u201d as a means of communication within the Scottish government, Sturgeon said she exchanged WhatsApps with no more than a \u201chandful\u201d of people, and wasn’t a member of any groups.<\/p>\n She also said that she deleted messages, in line with official advice, and that \u201csalient\u201d points were all recorded on the corporate record.<\/p>\n \u201cI operated from 2007, based on advice, the policy that messages, business relating to government, should not be kept on a phone that could be lost or stolen and insecure in that way, but properly recorded through the system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The former first minister said she had \u201calways assumed there would be a public inquiry\u201d and apologized for any lack of clarity at a public briefing in August 2021 where she said her WhatsApps would be handed over despite knowing they had already been deleted.<\/p>\n Last week, Sturgeon’s successor as first minister, Humza Yousaf, offered an \u201cunreserved\u201d apology for the Scottish government\u2019s \u201cfrankly poor\u201d handling of requests for WhatsApp messages. He has announced an external review into the government\u2019s use of mobile messaging.<\/p>\n The inquiry is divided into four so-called modules, with the current phase focusing on political decision-making around major developments, such as the timing of lockdowns. Though the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had policy independence, the U.K. as a whole often moved as one, especially when it came to lockdown decisions.<\/p>\n