Green minister likened to ‘Hollywood diva’

NICOLA STURGEON was yesterday forced to defend a Scottish Green minister in her government who told her officials she did not want to work every day of the Cop26 climate change summit and warned against early starts.

Lorna Slater, the minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, told Scottish Government civil servants that she did not want them to arrange more than “two things in one day” at the Glasgow conference.

An email from her private secretary, disclosed under Freedom of Information laws, included demands that she have adequate days off, no early starts at the summit following any late engagements the previous night and plenty of time to eat.

Ms Sturgeon insisted Ms Slater was an “incredibly hard worker” and the Lothians MSP had only wanted two days off over the fortnight the conference was taking place.

But the Tories likened her demand to those of a “Hollywood diva” and expressed astonishment that the environmentalist was demanding time off when “the future of the planet was on the line”.

The message was sent after Ms Slater, who earns £98,045 per year, was handed a timetable of her duties at the conference, which took place between Oct 31 to Nov 13 last year.

She was a week late arriving after she tested positive for Covid but the email from her private secretary, revealed by The Scottish Sun, read: “The minister doesn’t want to do any more than two things in a day given there will be other work to do in and around that.

“It may be feasible to do three things in a day if they [are] nearby one another and don’t require much preparation.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “In spite of having Covid for the first week, Ms Slater had a busy schedule of engagements and initiatives to demonstrate leadership on the climate emergency here in Scotland.”