DOUGLAS Ross has come under fire for attempting to “spin” evidence shown during Nicola Sturgeon's appearance at the UK Covid Inquiry.
The Scottish Tory leader clashed with First Minister Humza Yousaf at FMQs over evidence shown to the pandemic probe showing Scottish Government officials considered whether Spain would support an independent Scotland rejoining the EU if a travel ban was imposed.
Ross claimed officials had prioritised independence over public health, an allegation Yousaf said was not true and a “fantasy”.
READ MORE: Alister Jack dismisses Nicola Sturgeon's emotional Covid evidence
The First Minister hit out at Ross’s attempt at “spin”, “insults” and bid to “malign not just ministers but civil servants”.
Ross also attacked Sturgeon and her admission that she had deleted WhatsApp messages, but defended Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s admission to the inquiry on Friday morning that he had also deleted electronic messages.
Yousaf decried Ross’s “hypocrisy”, to which the Scottish Tory leader insisted that as Jack had apologised for deleting the messages he was better than Sturgeon, who insisted she was following Scottish Government advice.
The First Minister also railed against former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson’s time in office during the pandemic. This led to him being chastised by the Presiding Officer for quoting Johnson describing long Covid as “bollocks”.
In response to Ross’s attacks on Sturgeon, Yousaf said that during the “darkest days” of the pandemic he was “glad we had Nicola Sturgeon in charge” in Scotland as opposed to Johnson.
During the exchange, the Scottish Tory leader referenced an email shown to the UK Covid Inquiry that he said highlighted “senior SNP figures discussing the travel ban to Spain in July 2020”.
The document showed Scott Wightman, director of external affairs in the Scottish Government, expressing fears the Spanish Government would see the decision as “entirely political”.
"There is a real possibility they will never approve EU membership for an independent Scotland as a result," Wightman wrote, in an email dated July 19, 2020.
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“This wasn’t a low level consideration, the people included in discussion were Nicola Sturgeon, absent again from parliament, John Swinney, absent again from parliament, Jeane Freeman, and Humza Yousaf," Ross told the chamber.
“So First Minister, why was independence even considered in a decision about public health?”
Yousaf replied: “Of course, it wasn’t, and Douglas Ross when he says this email came from a senior SNP official, it was from a Scottish Government civil servant, not from John Swinney, nor Nicola Sturgeon, nor from myself, or indeed from Jeane Freeman.
“To suggest the decision around Spain was made for any other reason than epidemiology I’m afraid is an absolute fantasy.
“Even if we accepted Douglas Ross’s example or framing of the situation that we were attempting to look at this through a constitutional lens, and trying to curry favour with Spain, then surely we would have put them on the exempt list. We didn’t put them on the exempt list.”
Yousaf explained Spain’s “point of prevalence” for Covid cases was four times higher than in Scotland, which was why the country was not added to the list of exempted countries.
He added: “Douglas Ross can do his best to spin, he can do his best to throw insults, he can do his best to malign and misrepresent facts, malign not just ministers but civil servants, but I believe the people of Scotland know, for all of the challenges that we had during the pandemic, that the Scottish Government always prioritised protecting the public from the harms of Covid.
“I don’t think Douglas Ross can say the same of his party in the UK Government.”
Yousaf also defended his predecessor during the heated exchange, telling MSPs: “On the big calls, many of the decisions we made helped to save lives.”
READ MORE: Covid Inquiry: Alister Jack quizzed hours less than Nicola Sturgeon
He insisted Scottish politicians and officials had been working to “protect the people of Scotland” while admitting that they could have done some things differently.
“Our political opponents may well try to rewrite history and engage in smears and insults," he said.
“I can stand up here and say I know that every single day of that pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon, the rest of us in the Scottish Government, civil service included, worked for one reason and one reason only – to protect the people of Scotland from the harms of Covid.”
Elsewhere, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar however claimed senior ministers, including Sturgeon, had “subverted” the inquiry by deleting messages.
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