John Swinney has said that relations between the Scottish and UK Governments were "pretty poor" when the pandemic hit because of Brexit.
The former SNP Deputy First Minister told the UK Covid Inquiry in London that relationships between Westminster and Holyrood had been harmed by the prospect of Britain leaving the EU with no deal.
Swinney was speaking at the inquiry directly after former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had answered questions. Ex-Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman had a hearing on Wednesday.
All three were quizzed about how prepared Scotland was for a pandemic in the years building up to the Covid outbreak.
Swinney was asked by inquiry lawyer Kate Blackwell if a review into the relationship between devolved parliaments was commissioned because the Scottish and UK administrations had bad relations at the start of the pandemic.
Swinney said: "The reason why that process had to be undertaken to form an agreement about how we were all going to operate was that generally the relationships between the administrations were pretty poor by that point.
"Poor in the aftermath of Brexit because obviously... in Scotland we were not happy with Brexit at all.
"We were not happy with the [prospect] of a no deal Brexit... But generally relations were pretty poor.
"And therefore, there was a necessity to try to formulate some working basis upon which intergovernmental relationships could be improved."
Blackwell had asked him: "After the onset of Covid and commissioned by the four heads of government, there was a review of intergovernmental relations.
"[Tory Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove] has told the inquiry in his written statement that at the time of the pandemic, it was apparent that the broader matter of intergovernmental relations was not clearly agreed.
"Does the fact that the four heads of [government] commissioned the review of intergovernmental relations suggest that Michael Gove might be right that the practical difficulties that were encountered when Covid hit in terms of communication and substance indicated that further work needs to be done in terms of the way in which the nations work together in an emergency?"
But Swinney denied that poor relations were the reason that the Scottish Government missed two meetings of the UK Resilience Forum, which was set up after the start of the pandemic to improve UK-wide readiness for emergencies.
He said: "The absence of the Scottish Government was in any way an indication of poor relations on that point. I think it was perhaps logistics and issues that have gotten in the way."
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