Covid texts to Sturgeon 'not available' - Swinney

John Swinney told the UK Covid inquiry that messages to the former first minister were manually deleted in line with advice on Scottish government records policy given by his private office.

The former deputy first minister said he had deleted "ungoverned" material after making sure "any relevant information was placed on the official record" throughout his government career.

Mr Swinney told the inquiry that he communicated with Nicola Sturgeon primarily in-person or via telephone, while text messages were generally only used to set up meetings.