Humza Yousaf has apologised for “shortcomings” with the release of government WhatsApp messages, as he faced new secrecy allegations over legal advice and private emails written during the Covid crisis. The first minister “apologised unreservedly” on Thursday after the UK Covid inquiry challenged the accuracy of parliamentary statements made last week by him and his deputy, Shona Robison, about its requests for access to WhatsApp messages. As he did so, Yousaf then appeared to be wrongfooted by questions from the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, who pressed the first minister on why his government had refused to give the inquiry full unredacted copies of its legal advice during the pandemic. Yousaf insisted his government was committed “fully and unequivocally” to cooperating with the inquiry but said he would need to ask the government’s law officers for more information on the dispute. The wider controversy erupted in late October after the inquiry’s Scottish counsel, Jamie Dawson KC, publicly challenged the Scottish government over its noncompliance with the inquiry’s requests for full access to all the government’s WhatsApp messages.
It then emerged that Nicola Sturgeon, Yousaf’s predecessor as first minister, had allegedly deleted her WhatsApp messages – a claim she has failed to deny. In an effort to respond to the inquiry’s complaints, Robison and Yousaf told MSPs last Thursday the first formal request for the WhatsApp messages had been issued by the inquiry in September. But that was incorrect. The inquiry’s legal team contacted Yousaf’s officials the following day, challenging his and Robison’s accounts. At the end of the parliamentary day on Wednesday, Robison issued a written statement with a far more detailed timeline. That confirmed the inquiry had made repeated requests for their disclosure, which began with a draft request in November 2022. The inquiry then issued a formal request in February 2023, which it followed up later that month, in March and in June. Yousaf admitted his government had interpreted those requests “too narrowly” when it wrongly claimed the first request for those WhatsApp messages was made in September. That admission, during a rowdy first minister’s questions, was greeted with ridicule by opposition leaders. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, accused Yousaf of “peddling the same false claims” as his deputy. “They have been caught red-handed in a cover-up,” Ross added. “They knowingly told this chamber statements that were false. Isn’t it beyond doubt that Humza Yousaf and Shona Robison misled this parliament?” Yousaf rejected Ross’s allegations and pointed to references in Robison’s statement to earlier “initial requests” from the inquiry. “We don’t fear scrutiny,” Yousaf said. “What I absolutely, fully accept, is that as a government we interpreted those requests too narrowly. [I] absolutely acknowledge the distress caused to the families that have been bereaved by Covid, and I apologise unreservedly to them.” Sarwar said these disputes were further evidence that Yousaf was “totally and utterly out of his depth”, adding: “Hiding this crucial evidence is an affront to every victim of Covid, their families and everyone who lived under lockdowns and closures.” Yousaf’s official spokesperson said the government was in discussion with the inquiry about how the legal documents would be used and what would be disclosed from them. He said there were sensitivities about the release of legally privileged information, an issue the Welsh government had already begun exploring with the inquiry.