What’s the beef? Sturgeon adviser sparks row over Union flag on label

Nicola Sturgeon’s top adviser has been ridiculed after it emerged she ordered civil servants to investigate the use of the Union flag on Scotch Beef during the pandemic.

On the day the first minister warned that Covid was once again “accelerating” across the country, her adviser, Kate Higgins, was complaining about meat labelling.

In emails obtained under freedom o f information laws, Ms Higgins said it was “not on” for supermarkets to sell Scotch Beef packaged with a Union flag.

She added if Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), the public agency, was aware that Scotch Beef was being marked as British, “we have a problem”.

The comments on September 8 came as Ms Sturgeon asked the nation to “treat the c urrent s ituat ion w ith the seriousness it most certainly merits”.

After the SNP adviser pushed civil servants to investigate, QMS said Marks & Spencer – which had been specifically cited in the emails – had agreed to “review the fresh meat labelling”.

An email to Ms Higgins from QMS stated: “The M&S t eam hav e committed to review the fresh meat labelling as there were some products they identified that should be packaged as Scotch but were labelled as British.

“I have agreed to review the in-store range in the coming weeks to monitor the Scotch brands and report back to M&S.”

Scottish Conservative rural spokesman Oliver Mundell said the emails were “jaw-dropping”.

He said: “In the middle of a pandemic, it’s jawdropping that a key SNP government adviser is furiously investigating how the Union flag ended up on a packet of meat.

“It’s an embarrassing reveal of the priorities of the SNP Government.

“The big issue facing Scotland today is not the labelling of beef in Marks & Spencer.

“We are fighting a pandemic and 100,000 jobs are at risk.

“What will the Scottish public make of one of the first minister ’s key advisers complaining about flags on meat?” added the Tory MSP.

Ru ra l E conomy Secretary Fergus Ewing defended the emails, however, saying the SNP “makes no apologies” for seeking to promote Scottish produce when it is “under threat”.

He said: “Scotch Beef is an iconic product which enjoys protected named status, which should always be safeguarded and p romo ted – particularly during the pandemic, which has hit our food and drink sector hard.”