Nicola Sturgeon has said she stands by her decision to “lead from the front” during the coronavirus pandemic, despite a report criticising her choice to make decisions within a small group.
The former first minister spoke out on Thursday following the publication of an 800-page report detailing the findings of the UK Covid public inquiry.
Baroness Hallet, the inquiry’s chair, described the response of both the UK and Scottish Governments as “too little, too late”.
While Sturgeon was described as a “serious and diligent leader”, the report criticised her clashes with former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Baroness Hallett acknowledged that leaders “were presented with unenviable choices” and said they “had to make decisions in conditions of extreme pressure”.
But she said there was a critical “lack of urgency” in the response of all four UK governments.
Speaking to STV News at Holyrood, Sturgeon defended her decision to “lead from the front” during the pandemic and said ministers and relevant officials “played a full part in decision making”.
“It was a very conscious and deliberate decision of mine at the outset of the pandemic to lead from the front and to make very clear that the buck stopped with me,” she said.
“I want to be clear today that I stand by that decision. And if the clock was to be turned back, I would make that decision again.”
Sturgeon also said her daily briefings, in which coronavirus statistics were revealed and updates given to the public, was “the right approach”.
“The daily briefings I did were my way of sharing with the public what we knew and didn’t know, how that was changing, what we were asking them to do and why. And that very visible and consistent leadership, I think, was the right approach to take.
“There is literally not a day goes by even now when I don’t hear from members of the public how important they thought that approach was.”
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