SNP ministers have been accused of double standards after newly published official records showed they were ferried to and from the Cop26 climate change summit in their ministerial limousines.
Nine senior figures in Nicola Sturgeon’s government used their official cars to travel to and around the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, where world leaders met last autumn to thrash out a deal on cutting emissions.
Multiple trips were made by Kate Forbes, the Finance Secretary, and Richard Lochhead, the Employment Minister. Among the other ministers to rely on their limousines was Jenny Gilruth, who was then Culture Minister and is now Transport Minister.
Overall, Scottish ministers made 443 official car trips in November last year when the conference was staged. This includes a return trip between Edinburgh and Dunkeld in Perthshire by Lorna Slater, one of two Green ministers.
This total does not include trips made by Ms Sturgeon herself as her travel records are not published for security reasons. However, the First Minister, who does not drive, made regular appearances at the Cop26 site.
Shortly after the conference concluded, her government published a plan to cut car kilometers traveled by 20 per cent by 2030 and encourage people to switch to other modes of transport such as walking and cycling.
Among the policies they have introduced are low emission zones (LEZs) banning high-polluting vehicles from city centers and workplace parking charges. They are also considering introducing road tolls.
But the travel log disclosed that Mr Lochhead used his limousine to travel from Queen Street Station in Glasgow’s city center to the summit’s blue zone where the talks were hosted.