NICOLA Sturgeon has warned people not to follow the example set by Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, who this week broke Covid rules to have a pint.

Mr Harvie and two other Green MSPs, co-leader Lorna Slater and Ross Greer, and a fourth person were caught breaking the three household limit in an Edinburgh bar on Tuesday.

The group, who had just left talks with Ms Sturgeon at nearby Bute House about joint government, later apologised “unreservedly” for what they called “an honest mistake”.

As well as breaking the three household rule applying in Level 2 Edinburgh, Mr Harvie had come from Glasgow, which is still in the tougher Level 3 lockdown. 

Despite the gathering being in a pub, the party said it had been a “work related meeting”. 

The Scottish Tories said it “beggars belief" that Ms Sturgeon was willing to discuss power-sharing with MSPs she had to slap down for breaking Covid restrictions.

READ MORE: SNP refuse to back down over income tax in governing talks with Greens

At a Covid briefing today, the First Minister was asked to clarify if people in Glasgow, where pubs cannot serve alcohol indoors, could go into hospitality premises in a lower level areas to have a drink with work colleagues.

She said: "I live in Glasgow, I come to Edinburgh for work, but I take the view that the hospitality rules that apply to me are the ones that apply in Glasgow, because that's where I live.

"I think the Greens have accepted this week that they breach the regulations and they have apologised.

"I've got... some experience of that when before Christmas.. briefly I forget to put my face covering on.

"I want everybody to stick to the rules where they live, because it's really important for all of us."

She went on: "But I also know how tough it is for all of us. And there will be people with the best will in the world that occasionally step over the mark because we're all human.

"And I think in this really difficult time we've also got to try to remember that as well.

"If you’re having to travel to work, that’s fine. But apply the hospitality rules that apply in Glasgow.

"That reduces the risk of us in Glasgow, where there’s higher transmission, taking it, if we have and we don’t know we have it, into a pub or a restaurant.”

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: "It appears as though a condition of any formal agreement between the SNP and the Greens will be Patrick Harvie grovelling to the First Minister for not following her Covid-related guidelines.

“Patrick Harvie and his colleagues all too often take a holier-than-thou attitude, yet it appears this went out the window so they could enjoy a spot of high-end hospitality.

“It beggars belief that the First Minister is willing to have the Greens round the Ministerial table when she has to spend time slapping them down for breaking Covid restrictions.

“It could create quite an awkward atmosphere as they try and agree a nationalist coalition of chaos that will only put Scotland’s economic recovery at risk.”