Meghan’s father says she cried on hearing he would miss wedding

Freedom of Information (FOI) laws should be extended to cover private firms delivering public contracts, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have said

The party’s Tavish Scott said public procurement of services is worth £11 billion annually and argued the public should be able to access more information on how this public money is spent by private companies.

The MSP said: “Under the SNP, firms like Carillion or Scotrail have been handed multimillion pound contracts to supply the basic infrastructure that we all rely upon to go about our daily business. But the public are left with little recourse to uncover how taxpayers’ money is being spent and what level of performance is being achieved.” The Duchess of Sussex’s father has said he expects his daughter cried when he revealed he would not be attending her wedding.

Thomas Markle said he broke the news to Meghan about his absence in an emotional phone call just days before she was due to walk down the aisle in Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel.

The 73-year-old watched the wedding from California, where he was recovering from heart surgery. In an interview with ITV’S Good Morning Britain, Mr Markle said: “They were disappointed. Meghan cried, I’m sure, and they both said ‘Take care of yourself ’. I absolutely wanted to walk my daughter down the aisle.”