Nicola Sturgeon's Government considered independence reboot in the middle of lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon

A “bombshell” SNP Cabinet minute showed Nicola Sturgeon’s Government considered using the covid crisis to restart their independence campaign.

The document reveals Sturgeon’s top team discussed rebooting indyref2 when the country was in lockdown in 2020.

It was chewed over on the same day the former First Minister insisted publicly she was only focused on covid.

“We’re not dealing with politics at the moment,” she said.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “People were dying and one of their first thoughts was political advantage.”

The UK Covid Inquiry has been rocked by the revelation Sturgeon has not retained any of her WhatsApp messages from the time on her devices.

The same hearing showed how her Cabinet discussed using their handling of the coronavirus crisis to make the case for independence.

Sturgeon repeatedly insisted her focus was on public health, not politics, but the Scottish Government minute from June 2020 shows the constitution came up.

Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the inquiry, referred to the minute in an exchange with former civil servant Ken Thomson.

He said: “It says that cabinet agreed that consideration should be given to restarting work on independence and a referendum with the arguments reflecting the experience of the Coronavirus crisis and developments on EU exit.”

Scots were in lockdown at that point and their basic liberties had been curtailed, although a slight easing of restrictions had been announced that month.

Sturgeon gave one of her covid briefings on the same day and shot down claims of political motivations in her handling of the crisis.

She had been much more reluctant than Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister at the time, to ease restrictions:

“Your last question was an accusation that I had been somehow divisive in language I used. I want to just come back to basics here. We’re not dealing with politics at the moment. We are dealing with a virus, a virus that we know poses a real risk to health and to life.

“We know it’s a virus that doesn’t respect borders or boundaries. And we know that we have to focus on trying to stop it spread.”

She added: “Frankly, anybody who is trotting out political or constitutional arguments is in the wrong place completely and has found themselves completely lost.”

Cole-Hamilton said: “The Covid Inquiry heard Friday that the Scottish Cabinet were actively looking to politicise the pandemic to make the case for Scottish Independence, in 2020.

“This is a bombshell revelation.”

The exchange from the Covid Inquiry was flagged up on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Sam Taylor of the pro-UK These Islands group.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: “This is proof positive that the priorities of the SNP government are not those of the Scottish people.

“It’s time that this out of touch government was booted out.”

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “It is hard to imagine Nicola Sturgeon’s star falling any lower than it has, but we are still in the early days of this inquiry.

“People were dying, the NHS was on the verge of collapse, care homes were on their knees, and this is what the SNP were more concerned about.

“This damning memo proves the SNP ignored tragedy to further their separation obsession – and then belittled journalists who cottoned on to that.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“The Scottish Government is committed to responding to both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 inquiries, as learning lessons from the pandemic is vital to prepare for the future.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on any matters being considered by the UK Covid Inquiry while hearings are ongoing.”

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