A MEMBER of the Scottish Covid Bereaved group has vowed to “hold our politicians to account” after the UK Covid-19 inquiry criticised former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s handling of the crisis.

Publishing the second of its planned 10 reports on Thursday, the inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett took aim at decision-making processes at both devolved and UK level, arguing that lives could have been saved if action had been taken sooner.

At Scottish level, Baroness Hallett criticised Ms Sturgeon’s administration for having “no real strategy” as the virus spread in the months before the pandemic was declared and when it was, for effectively turning the Scottish cabinet into a ratifying body, having had deliberations with selected ministers and special advisers at “gold command” meetings beforehand.

Ms Sturgeon offered little contrition, arguing her biggest regret about the meetings was the name.

“It gives an impression that they were something that they weren’t,” she said.

“They were discursive forums, opportunities for me, with key ministers depending on the subject matter, and key officials to kick round the different options we were considering, then take decisions to Cabinet.

“I would respectfully say that any reading of Cabinet minutes from the time would suggest that Cabinet was not some kind of rubber-stamp.”

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland today, Scottish Covid Bereaved’s Maggie Waterton said: “Our determination is that, as citizens of Scotland, it’s our role and responsibility and accountability to make sure that we hold our politicians to account.

“We ensure that they deliver on these recommendations, implement them in full and that these changes are made meaningfully and promptly, so that we learn those lessons and this doesn’t happen again.”

Arguing that criticisms of Ms Sturgeon’s approach to decision-making “evidences what we did think was happening,” she added: “Our former first minister has come out swinging, really, to defend herself.

“The evidence that we heard, and I sat through all of the evidence in Edinburgh … it was apparent that Ms Sturgeon as the First Minister and Mr Swinney as the then Deputy First Minister were making some decisions outside of the Scottish cabinet.

“The gold command structure, there were no minutes from that, so you’ve got no idea who’s saying what, how decisions were made and what the contrary voices were.”