Indyref2 flyer uses photo of English wind farm on cover
NICOLA STURGEON’S prospectus for an independent Scotland featured an image of an English wind farm on the cover, her civil servants have admitted after publishing a new version.
The First Minister unveiled the document in a fanfare of publicity last month, with the front page featuring a picture of three wind turbines in a field of hay bales under a blue sky.
But her government was left redfaced after it emerged that the image actually shows Fraisthorpe wind farm, near Bridlington on the east coast of Yorkshire.
The Scottish Government has now reissued the paper online with a new cover, this time showing two turbines under a cloudy sky in Scotland.
Officials said the new image was captured in Pease Bay in Berwickshire and blamed a “reputable stock image website” for the mistake with the original cover.
But Sharon Dowey, a Scottish Conservative MSP, said: “There will be red faces all around in the corridors of the Snp-green Government at this embarrassing mistake. We’re used to an SNP independence prospectus being a work of fiction, but in this one even the picture on the front cover is misleading.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “On initial publication, our contracted publishing print and design agency used a reputable stock image website to source a picture of a Scottish wind farm for the paper. While the image used was tagged on the stock image website as being in Scotland, we now understand that image may have been mislabelled and, as a result, we updated our publication online.”
Last month, Ms Sturgeon published a draft Bill for a “consultative” referendum to be held on Oct 19 next year.
The Lord Advocate has now referred it to the Supreme Court for a ruling on whether she has the power to take the legislation forward.