THE SNP has been accused of lacking all credibility after raffling a car at its party conference despite Nicola Sturgeon declaring a climate emergency.
After a series of ministers stressed the need to cut carbon emissions, the party gave away a five-door Peugeot 208 as the top prize in a fundraiser.
The winner, Falkirk activist Patricia Simpson, was announced from the conference stage just minutes after Transport Secretary Michael Matheson spoke at a fringe on driving less to cut air pollution.
In her introduction to the conference agenda, Ms Sturgeon said: “We are demonstrating global leadership in the battle against climate change.”
The SNP leader also spoke in defence of climate change protester Greta Thunberg in her main conference address.
The row followed other controversies about sponsorship at the conference.
A restricted lounge was sponsored by Heathrow airport, while a fringe was sponsored by BP.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “In a conference where BP sponsored the fringe on reaching net zero, and MPs were given a free coffee to support a third runway at Heathrow, should we really be surprised that the top prize in the raffle was a car?
“Earlier, Michael Matheson had said he wants to cut car use, but we know the vast distance between what the SNP says and what it actually does to address the climate emergency.
“Roseanna Cunningham hailed the ‘world-leading’ long term targets but everywhere you turn the SNP are in denial about what needs to be done now. Only the Greens have a plan of how to get there with our Scottish Green New Deal.”
Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Giving away a fossil-fuelled car only months after declaring a Climate Emergency is beyond embarrassing.
"This conference has seen a very encouraging level of debate on climate change and environmental issues in the main hall and in the fringe meetings. The associations with sponsors Heathrow and BP, and business-as-usual cars has to end if the party is to be credible."
Tory MSP Maurice Golden said: "This is the latest stunt which proves the SNP’s so-called climate emergency is nothing but a gimmick.
“It’s laughable that the nationalists should spend their conference pretending to care about the environment, then auction off a car as a grand prize.
“The SNP has launched a war on motorists when it comes to the general public, but will reward them if they’re SNP delegates.”
- READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says indyref2 'must happen'
Scottish LibDem MSP Mike Rumbles added: "This prize seems poorly chosen given the SNP’s supposed commitment to tackling emissions.
“Even worse, the lucky raffle winner may well find now themselves on the wrong side of the SNP’s parking tax.”
A Scottish Labour source added: “If they aren't begging Heathrow to throw them some more money the SNP are raffling cars.
“The SNP are not serious about tackling the climate emergency."
An SNP spokesman said: "We do this every year. People drive cars."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel