Nicola Sturgeon won’t do daily Covid briefings during Scottish election campaign

SNP leader promises not to ‘abuse’ her position as Scotland’s first minister

(Getty Images)

First minister Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to step back from daily Covid briefings during the upcoming Holyrood election – promising not to “abuse” her position as she campaigns for the SNP.

The SNP leader said she would not lead the daily events on the public health crisis in the run-up to the Scottish parliament election in May – but could still make appearances for major announcements.

Opposition parties have argued Ms Sturgeon’s lunchtime appearances give her party an unfair advantage. Scottish Tory and Scottish Labour politicians previously wrote to the BBC to complain about live coverage of her updates.

“You will undoubtedly not have me doing daily briefings every day the way I have been doing them previously,” Ms Sturgeon told MSPs on Wednesday.

“But if there are big decisions that we are having to make during the election period, then I have a duty to communicate to the public what they are.”

Ms Sturgeon added: “I fully understand the importance of the election and democratic process and it is not in my interest in any way to be seen as abusing the position of first minister and I will absolutely not do that.”

The first minister said the Scottish government had not yet come to a final decision on exactly when she would step back from the daily briefings. Scots will vote on 6 May, with a recess for the election campaign set to begin on 25 March.

Appearing before MSPs on Holyrood’s Covid committee, Ms Sturgeon said she hopes all of parts of Scotland can see a “substantial” easing of lockdown measures when the country returns to the regional levels system at the end of next month.

The first minister’s comments come as a vote of no-confidence in her deputy first minister, John Swinney, is set to take place in the Scottish parliament later on Wednesday.

It follows Mr Swinney’s admission that records of meetings between Ms Sturgeon, permanent secretary Leslie Evans and the Scottish government’s legal counsel about the unlawful Alex Salmond investigation cannot be found.

Nicola Sturgeon with deputy John Swinney (PA)

The Scottish Tories said it was “inconceivable these minutes don’t exist”, while Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Mr Swinney’s failure to provide a record was “utterly despicable and repugnant”.

The minister is expected to survive the vote due to backing from the pro-independence Scottish Greens.

Ms Sturgeon remains under pressure over the Salmond saga, with the Holyrood committee inquiry continuing to gather evidence on the Scottish government’s botched handling of complaints against the former first minister.

Mr Salmond has claimed WhatsApp messages from senior SNP figures would substantiate his claims of a “malicious and concerted” plot against him.

A source with knowledge of the content of the messages – handed over to the committee last week – told The Scotsman on Wednesday that they “turned out to be mince”.

The unnamed committee figure stated: “Mr Salmond put high store in us finding some elaborate conspiracy in these text messages, but really they turned out to be mince. They are actually just private conversations that we probably had no business intruding on.”