NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of allowing her “obsession” with independence to become a distraction at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow.
The First Minister came under fire after promoting Scotland as a “nation in waiting” in SNP newspaper adverts aimed at world leaders attending the event today.
They also described Scotland as “not yet an independent nation”.
Opposition parties said they struck the wrong tone and urged the SNP to withdraw them.
The adverts, which feature Ms Sturgeon’s picture and signature, appeared just a day after she urged other politicians to “put egos aside over the next few days”.
They say: “A nation is waiting welcomes the nations of the world.”
“Scotland helped lead the world into the industrial age. Now we’re proud to help lead the world into the net zero age.
“We’re busy creating a greener, fairer, sustainable Scotland. While not yet an independent nation, we’re more than ready and able to play our part on the global stage at COP26.”
The adverts were paid for by the SNP, not the Scottish Government.
Tory MSP Donald Cameron said: “This advert from the SNP is disappointing but very predictable.
“Even when world leaders are in Glasgow to focus on the future of the planet, the first instinct of the SNP is to push their divisive independence obsession.
“No matter how big the issue, the SNP just can’t help themselves – they always focus on trying to break up the United Kingdom.
“Nations from around the world are coming together at COP26 in a bid to tackle the climate emergency and yet the SNP – whose failure to meet climate-change targets is dismal – would rather talk about separation.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: "At a time when the world is coming together with the mission of solving the biggest problem humanity has ever faced, the SNP are obsessed with independence and just can’t leave it at the door.
“The eyes of billions are on Scotland, the future of our planet hangs in the balance, and Nicola Sturgeon can’t help herself.
“This advert is a distraction and divisive. It should be withdrawn.
“COP26 must offer the world new hope for the climate emergency and it must finally cause the Scottish Government to act on a scale that will bring an end to its years of missed targets and opportunities.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP is proud to be delivering global leadership on tackling the climate emergency.
"We'll leave others to snipe from the sidelines, we're 100% focussed on creating a greener and fairer Scotland and more sustainable planet.”
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