Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, has denied deleting WhatsApp messages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, amid accusations that the Scottish government has failed to provide data to the UK Covid Inquiry.
Senior government figures, including former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, have been accused of deleting messages or using an auto-delete function.
Yousaf stated that he has kept and retained all WhatsApp messages and is willing to provide them to the Covid inquiry. The Scottish government has also requested a legal order from the UK Covid Inquiry to release messages.
Concerns have been raised about the deletion of messages by senior government officials during the pandemic.