Opposition leaders accuse first minister and deputy of misleading Holyrood after they are forced to retract statements about message requests

Humza Yousaf has apologised for “shortcomings” with the release of government WhatsApp messages, as he faced new secrecy allegations over the 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 non-compliance 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.

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