A Scottish Green minister has been accused of laziness after telling aides she didn't want to work every day of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
Lorna Slater, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, is believed to have told Scottish Government officials she didn't want them to arrange more than "two things in one day".
Opposition parties have hit out at the Green MSP, who was forced to self-isolate the first week of the summit due to coronavirus, branding her a "Hollywood diva".
Slater's demands were revealed in an email sent by her private secretary to civil servants and advisers in government in the lead up to world leaders descending on Glasgow.
The email, 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."
After her first day of the conference Slater, who earns £98,045, was snapped in a pub by 5pm with fellow Green minister Patrick Harvie.
Colin Smyth, Scottish Labour’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport spokesman, branded the Greens "out of touch".
He told the Sun: “We already knew Green ministers’ jobs were made up, but I hadn’t realised they were part-time.
"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.
"The minister’s point-blank refusal to work a little overtime to attend the most important global climate conference in years shreds the last of her environmentalist credentials.
"It looks a lot like the two things Lorna Slater does per day are propping up a failing SNP administration and cashing her ministerial paycheck."
Tory environment spokesman Graham Simpson 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.
"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."
When asked about the matter, Nicola Sturgeon defended Slater: "All my ministers work hard, they're expected to work hard, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Lorna is an incredibly hard worker. I've seen that in the time that she has been in the Scottish Government."
A Scottish Government spokesperson 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."
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