CLIMATE OF MISTRUST
Johnson wants to sideline Sturgeon to keep indyref2 off the agenda at
Boris Johnson wants to cut Nicola sturgeon out of the Cop26 summit to prevent her using it as “an advert for an independence campaign”, according to leaked messages.
Downing Street advisers have been seeking to sideline the First Minster’s role at the global gathering in Glasgow, it’s been claimed.
The summit will see an estimated 200 world leaders and VIPS descend on Glasgow for two weeks from October 31.
According to meeting notes and WhatsApp messages, strategists have been trying to work out how to prevent the summit from becoming an “advert” for Scottish independence.
But Sturgeon hit back by insisting anyone who allows politics to get in the way of tackling climate change would be abdicating responsibility.
She wrote on Twitter: “All that matters is that Cop26 delivers an outcome to meet the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.
“We must work together and maximise contributions to that. Anyone – me or PM – who allowed politics to get in way would be abdicating that responsibility.”
But the leaked messages suggest advisers are planning to keep Johnson from sharing a platform with Sturgeon in the run-up to and during the event.
On adviser wrote: “We can’t let this be used as an advert for an independence campaign.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has been clear that there is a role for all the first ministers from across the UK at Cop26. We are working together with the Scottish Government.”