Sturgeon: No, it’s NOT all about bid to break up UK
NICOLA Sturgeon last night denied launching a fresh bid for Scottish independence to coincide with the Cop26 summit.
The First Minister defended newspaper adverts which called Scotland a ‘nation in waiting’ on the day the UN Climate Change conference kicked off.
It led to claims the SNP was renewing its constitution campaign under the cover of Cop26 – and timing it for when world leaders would be arriving in the country.
However, Miss Sturgeon dismissed the criticism and claimed it was ‘not true’ to suggest she was pushing the cause for independence at the summit.
On the first two days of the UN conference, the SNP leader spoke at a series of events and met leaders and celebrity activists, including Greta Thunberg.
But she did not hold a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden. Instead their interaction was minimal as they exchanged pleasantries at a reception for ‘VVIP guests’ on Monday evening.
It is the UK Government that is hosting the conference, led by the United Nations.
The event was held on the same day a new SNP advert appeared in a series of newspapers. The headline on the advert said: ‘A nation in waiting welcomes the nations of the world.’
The advert continued: ‘We’re busy creating a greener, fairer, sustainable Scotland. While not yet an independent nation, we’re more than ready and able to play our part on the global stage at Cop26.’
It sparked claims Miss Sturgeon was using the summit to further her own
‘Public can see right through this SNP spin’
agenda and push for Scottish independence. However, Miss Sturgeon said yesterday: ‘We didn’t launch a campaign.
‘We had adverts in a couple of newspapers welcoming people to Scotland. I think there is a difference.
‘This conference is about climate change and I don’t think anybody hearing or listening or speaking to me over the course of yesterday or today would think I’m focused on anything other than that.’
Miss Sturgeon said she ‘briefly’ spoke to President Biden, and was photographed with the Duchess of Rothesay at a reception at Kelvingrove Museum for world leaders and members of the Royal Family.
Although Downing Street has not given the First Minister a formal role at the summit, she has met Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, and Werner Hoyer, the president of the European Investment Bank, during proceedings.
She also met activists Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate.
Miss Sturgeon co-hosted a breakfast event for world leaders with Boris Johnson and devolved government leaders from Wales and Northern Ireland.
In attendance at the gathering in the Clydeside Distillery, where whisky was shunned in favour of coffee and pastries, were Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, as well as the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, Barbados, Belgium, Estonia, Nepal and Vietnam.
Miss Sturgeon told the leaders they have a ‘weight of responsibility’ on their shoulders to limit global warming to 1.5C and not leave developing countries behind.
Later she convened the Glasgow Women’s Leadership Initiative with UN Women ‘to put gender equality and climate change at the very forefront of Cop26’.
Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘Sturgeon’s claim that the SNP’s “nation in waiting” ad campaign was not about independence is laughable.
‘The First Minister claims to be focused on the environment – but it is clear that the SNP’s obsession with independence trumps every other issue.
‘The Scottish public can see right through this classic SNP spin, and Nicola Sturgeon is trying to treat them as fools by pretending this isn’t just another push for independence.
‘People are sick of this constant SNP agitation. Nicola Sturgeon must drop the ego trip, and focus on what’s important at Cop26 – tackling global climate change.’
Meanwhile, Scottish Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvie yesterday sparked a row with Greenpeace as he said the organisation had unfairly criticised Miss Sturgeon over her position on the proposed Cambo oil field.
The First Minister has failed to call for the plans to be scrapped but has said that drilling should not start without further environmental assessments.
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Harvie said: ‘They’re not particularly politically active in Scotland, and I don’t think they understood the significance of that [Miss Sturgeon’s position].’
Greenpeace activists said they had spent the summer visiting communities in Scotland and talking to offshore workers about their concerns and aspirations.
Sam Chetan-Welsh, political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: ‘The ball is still in Nicola Sturgeon’s court. If she wants to show her calls on the UK Government to reassess Cambo are not just a PR exercise, then she should clearly state that her government is against it.’
‘Sick of constant agitation’