Closing summary
Another revealing day of the Covid inquiry has concluded. Here is a roundup of the day’s biggest moments:
An emotional Sturgeon, who was on the edge of tears at various points of the day, said she felt the number of lives lost during the pandemic was “far too high”. Soon after, she said she was “sorry to each and every bereaved person, and each and every person who suffered in other ways. I did my best, my government did our best and people will judge that.”
Earlier in the day, Sturgeon made a similar statement, saying that “for as long as I live I will carry the impact of [the] decisions” made during the pandemic.
Sturgeon admitted to deleting WhatsApp messages, saying she did so due to “security concerns”. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar later claimed that Sturgeon “lied” to a journalist when she told them that she had preserved WhatsApp messages which the inquiry would want to see.
Sturgeon said one of her main regrets about the pandemic is not locking down earlier in 2020. She said: “Of the many regrets I have, probably chief of those is that we didn’t lock down a week, two weeks, earlier than we did.”
Throughout the day, she denied accusations of politicising the pandemic to bolster support for Scottish independence. Lead counsel Jamie Dawson KC said such a move would be a “considerable betrayal of the Scottish people”, to which Sturgeon agreed it would.
Evidence that the Scottish government was concerned that Spain would block an independent Scotland from joining the EU over travel restrictions was presented to the inquiry. An email – copied to Sturgeon and a number of senior government figures – sent on 19 July from the email address of then deputy first minister John Swinney, but signed off by someone named Scott, said: “It won’t matter how much ministers might justify it on health grounds, the Spanish government will conclude it is entirely political; they won’t forget; there is a real possibility they will never approve EU membership for an independent Scotland as a result.”
Sturgeon said Boris Johnson was the “wrong prime minister” for the Covid crisis. She replied “yes” when asked if Boris Johnson was “the wrong prime minister” for the crisis.
Updated
Today’s hearing has come to an end. Lady Hallett, who chairs the inquiry, said it is unlikely Sturgeon will be called back again and noted that some members of the public gallery were distressed.
