First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of “hypocrisy” after being photographed maskless at a family birthday bash last November.
Now deleted snaps posted to Ms Sturgeon’s younger sister’s Facebook account show the Scottish leader at her cousin’s surprise 40th party.
Ms Sturgeon is pictured shoulder-to-shoulder with relatives without wearing a mask at a time when the SNP Government warned the public to cover up and avoid meeting indoors.
Gillian Sturgeon, 46, posted images from the event showing her politician sister in a village hall, reported the Scottish Daily Express.
Under the photos, Gillian wrote: “Fab night at my cousin’s surprise 40th. Was so lovely having ALL the cousins together. Not happened in years! Fab memories made.”
It’s not known what date the photographs were taken, but they were posted on November 14 last year and Gillian Sturgeon wished her cousin a happy 40th the same weekend.
The images were confirmed as genuine by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Tories blasted the SNP leader for hypocrisy and poor decision-making in attending the celebration.
A party spokesman said: “Politicians should follow the spirit of the rules they set.”
The photos were taken at the same time as the First Minister was leading Scotland’s battle against emerging coronavirus variants, while mask-wearing was compulsory in Scotland’s classrooms for secondary school pupils age 11-plus.
Meanwhile Scots over the age of 12 were still being advised by law to wear a face covering unless exempt in most indoor public places.
This included public transport, shops and indoor entertainment venues, including community centres, leisure centres, places where clubs or societies meet as well as bars and cafes and other attractions.
The rules also extended to any indoor, or part of an indoor, public space used for weddings or civil partnership registration and as a polling station or counting votes.
Millions were advised to wear a face covering outdoors in crowded places and warned they could still catch and pass on the virus, even if vaccinated.
Jo Bisset, organiser for parent campaign group Us for Them (UFTScotland), also accused the First Minister of hypocrisy for not masking up in an indoor group setting.
She said: “The First Minister could have avoided this controversy simply by lifting the mask mandate in schools.
“But she didn’t and for months after this photograph was taken young people still had to spend their entire day wearing a face covering.
“If a mask-free existence was good enough for Nicola Sturgeon, it should have been good enough for school pupils.
“There are numerous photographs of Nicola Sturgeon and other senior ministers going about their business without a mask on while ordering others to do the opposite.
“That’s why parents are so angry at the hypocrisy we’ve seen right across the political spectrum.”
By November the booster programme was well underway as case numbers rocketed across the UK with ministers warning the country was far from out of the woods.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf told the Scottish Parliament at the beginning of the month the situation remained “precarious” with early signs that case numbers would increase again.
He reminded the public to continue to comply with the use of face masks. He said: “Meet outdoors if you can – I know that will be increasingly difficult as we get deeper into winter. But outdoor environments are safer.
“When meeting indoors, open windows – do anything you can to improve ventilation.
“And try where possible to keep a safe distance from people in other households.”
Figures show 115 Scots died of Covid in the week leading up to November 14.
Official Scottish Government stats from the time indicated an average of 3,019 cases were reported per day in the 7 days to 18 November - a massive six per cent increase from the daily average of 2,855 recorded on November 11.
Average hospital admissions also increased in all age groups over 19 in the three weeks leading up to 10 November 2021 compared to the previous three-week period.
And just two days after the pics were posted on November 16, Ms Sturgeon gave a Covid briefing in which she urged Scots: “Please comply with the mitigations still in place.
“Work from home when that is possible, wear face coverings in indoor public places - shops and public transport and when moving about in hospitality. Wash hands and surfaces thoroughly.
“And meet outdoors if that is possible. That obviously gets harder through the winter - but it is the case that outdoor environments are safer than indoors.
“And when you are meeting indoors, try to open windows – anything to improve ventilation will help.
All of these precautions do still make a difference. They will protect us and those around us, and they will help to ease the burden on our NHS. So I ask everyone to continue to stick with them and thank everyone for doing so.”
Ms Sturgeon gave a stern rebuke of the Westminster partygate saga in January in which she blasted what she called Downing Street’s “serial” rule-breaking.
A Scottish Government’s spokeswoman denied all accusations of Covid rule breaches saying it was down to interpretation.
She said: “The suggestion that these pictures show a gathering not permitted under the Covid rules on social gatherings in Scotland is mistaken.
“The picture is from November 2021, before the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid, and the gathering was permitted under the rules.”
