Scottish Green minister Lorna Slater accused of laziness after ‘not wanting to work every day’ at Cop26
One of the Scottish Green ministers in Nicola Sturgeon's coalition government has been accused of laziness after it emerged she had told her officials she did not want to work every day of the Cop26 climate change summit.
Lorna Slater, minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity, told Scottish government officials she did not want them to arrange more than "two things in one day" for her 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.
The message was sent after Ms Slater, who earns nearly £100,000 per year, was handed a timetable of her duties at the conference, which took place between Oct 31 to Nov 13 last year.
It was the largest ever international summit to take place in the UK, with countries attempting to reach a historic deal on slowing global warming, and was attended by world leaders including US President Joe Biden.
Ms Slater was a week late arriving at the summit after she tested positive for Covid but she was in the pub at just after 5pm on her first day, accompanied by Patrick Harvie, the other Green minister in Ms Sturgeon's government.
'She needs two full days off'
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 all nearby one another and don’t require much preparation.
"Consideration should also be given to any evening events in Glasgow where the minister may be very late (post 10pm) getting home in which case there should be a later start the following day.
"The minister commented that she can’t be working 14 days straight — she needs two full days completely off, they don’t need to be consecutive."
Demands of 'Hollywood diva'
Graham Simpson, the Scottish Tories' shadow environment minister, said: "This astonishing email reads like the demands of a Hollywood diva, not a Scottish government minister.
"The future of the planet was on the line, so it defies belief that an environment minister should be putting restrictions on her workload and insisting on days off during this crucial summit."
Colin Smyth, Scottish Labour’s net zero spokesman, added: "This staggering set of rules from Lorna Slater show just how out-of-touch the Greens really are – and how little interest they have in delivering a green agenda."
Ms Slater, a Lothians MSP, earns £98,045 for her ministerial role after the Greens struck a coalition deal with the SNP last August.
The Scottish Sun also disclosed that she had only met Zero Waste Scotland, the government agency charged with delivering policies linked to her brief, once in five months.
But the trapeze artist posted last week on social media that she wanted to "settle into a routine so I can get to aerial class regularly."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "All Scottish ministers worked hard throughout Cop26 to make it a success.
"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, including banning some of the most harmful single-use plastic products."
