Nicola Sturgeon defends Green minister Lorna Slater as ‘incredibly hardworking’

The First Minister was responding to a story in a tabloid newspaper which revealed that Ms Slater had asked for two days off during the Cop26 summit.

Green minister Lorna Slater is ‘incredibly hardworking’ Nicola Sturgeon has said (Jane Barlow/PA)

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that Green minister Lorna Slater is “incredibly hardworking” after she emailed staff demanding time off during the crucial Cop26 climate change summit.

Ms Slater, the minister for green skills, the circular economy and biodiversity, is reported to have told civil servants and advisers that she did not want to do “any more than two things in a day” during the summit.

With the climate conference, which was staged in Glasgow running for two weeks, Ms Slater, who missed part of the event because she was isolating after testing positive for Covid, also said she “can’t be working 14 days straight” and “needs two full days completely off”, although these “don’t need to be consecutive”.

Details of the email, which was obtained under Freedom of Information, were reported by the Scottish Sun newspaper.

Nicola Sturgeon (centre) brought Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie (left) and Lorna Slater (right) into Government after signing a cooperation agreement with their party. (Lesley Martin/PA)

Scots Tory environment spokesman, Graham Simpson, told the paper: “This astonishing email reads like the demands of a Hollywood diva, not a Scottish Government minister.”

The Conservative added: “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.

“Emissions don’t take days off. If she wants to be a Government minister, Lorna Slater must grow up and accept the responsibilities that come with the job.”

Lorna is an incredibly hard worker. I've seen that in the time that she has been in the Scottish Government.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

However, when asked about the matter, Ms Sturgeon insisted: “All my ministers work hard, they’re expected to work hard, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She added: “Lorna is an incredibly hard worker. I’ve seen that in the time that she has been in the Scottish Government.”

Ms Sturgeon said the comment about wanting two days off was “over the course of a 14-day period”.

The First Minister who brought the Greens into her Scottish Government after signing a cooperation agreement with the party, added: “All ministers will have different patterns of working to take account of all sorts of things, but Lorna and the rest of my ministerial team are hardworking, as the country has every right to expect them to be.”

Meanwhile, Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba insisted Ms Slater was not being “lazy” by attending two events a day, as well as her other ministerial duties.

Ms Villalba tweeted: “It’s not ‘making a fuss’ to ask for one day off a week. It’s not ‘lazy’ to attend two events a day alongside ministerial duties.

“If we’re serious about encouraging a diverse range of candidates to stand for Parliament, this macho attitude to work has to end.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman 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.”