Scottish Government staff took more than 4000 flights last year at the same time Holyrood declared a “climate emergency”, figures have shown.
The number of international plane trips taken by staff rose to 1724 in 2019 from 1679 the previous year,according to a freedom of information request from the Scottish Lib Dems. The figure represents a 73 per cent jump in international flights since 2015.
The amount of flights to other parts of the UK also rose over the same period, from 2432 to 2527, although the 2019 total is a reduction of almost 800 on 2018.
Lib Dem Mike Rumbles said: “The volume of Scottish Government flights, both inside and outside the UK, is astounding.
“The First Minister says she wants Scotland to be a world leader on climate change. To do that, she needs to lead by example.
“This level of air travel cannot continue and Nicola Sturgeon should immediately withdraw her support for the expansion of Heathrow, which we know would result in an additional 600,000 tons of Scottish flight emissions
by 2040.”
Councillor Kim Long, the co-convener of the Scottish Greens in Glasgow, said: “The climate budget deal struck by Greens in Glasgow this week will introduce a prohibition on councillors flying internally within the UK.”
