MINISTER’S FOREIGN TRIPS CAMPAIGNING FOR INDY

... AND HOW AIR MILES ANGUS WAS OUTED IN THE LORDS BY A UK MINISTER!

SNP MINISTER Angus Robertson was last night at the centre of a diplomatic storm for promoting the cause of independence while on official Scottish Government business.

Mr Robertson, nicknamed ‘Air Miles Angus’ due to the number of foreign trips he has made this year, was outed in a House of Lords debate.

UK Government member Lord Offord of Garvel told how the MSP had been passing himself off as the ‘Foreign Secretary of Scotland’ and discussing his party’s independence plans on Ministerial visits.

He disclosed that at an October meeting of the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland, Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir gave details of talks she had held earlier in the day with Mr Robertson in which he had told her about the ‘poor oppressed people of Scotland’.

Taking part in a debate after the landmark Indyref 2 court ruling at the end of last month, Greenock-raised former financier Lord Offord told fellow peers: ‘The constitution is a reserved matter – as the Supreme Court has made very clear – so Scottish Ministers should not raise the issue when meeting foreign governments.’

But the Under Secretary of State for Scotland added: ‘On my travels abroad, I was recently in Iceland and met the Prime Minister. She had just had a meeting with Angus Robertson, who I think was passing himself off as the Foreign Secretary of Scotland.

‘She said to me, rolling her eyes, “The poor people of Scotland are so oppressed, not being allowed to leave. There is obviously majority support for independence. Why won’t the UK

‘The UK Government has to find some way of stopping this’

Government allow the Scottish people to have their freedom?”

‘I said, “Prime Minister, I believe you had your independence from Denmark in 1944.” She said yes. I said, “I believe you had a vote.” She said yes. ‘I asked, “What was the vote in favour of independence?” She said it was 96 per cent. I said, “The SNP currently has 37 per cent.” She smiled and said, “Let’s talk about energy”.’

The embarrassing incident came only a few days after the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen, during which Mr Robertson, who is Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, reportedly told business leaders he would head out on a grandstanding worldwide trip to promote independence if attempts to get a referendum next year were blocked.

Mr Robertson’s role promoting trade and culture – which is within his remit as part of Holyrood’s devolved powers – has seen him jet around the world. But using his official post to promote the SNP’s push for independence would be an unlawful use of taxpayers’ cash.

The MSP for Edinburgh Central has already racked up a huge bill on his travels. His weeklong trip to North America to mark Scottish Week last spring cost the taxpayer £12,823.

In August, he was in Slovenia to speak at a human rights conference. In October, he visited Paris to unveil a plaque to Scottish soldiers with French Veterans Minister Patricia Miralles. A video shows him arriving in a Ministerial Range Rover and greeting his host – but not the UK Ambassador to France, Menna Rawlings, who was standing next to her.

Following his trip to Iceland, he hosted Italian and Spanish diplomats in Edinburgh while last month he flew to Madrid where he posed for a photo at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

He has also complained that

Scotland’s Minister for External

Affairs – a post only created when the SNP came to power in 2007 –should be holding regular meetings with the UK Foreign Secretary.

He told a Westminster committee last month: ‘Last week I was in London and I met with James Cleverly, the new Foreign Secretary.

‘The institutional memory in the Scottish Government is that was the first-ever meeting between the Scottish Government External

The Icelandic Prime Minister met with Angus Robertson, who I think was passing himself off as the Foreign Secretary of Scotland.

‘She said to me, rolling her eyes, “The poor people of Scotland are so oppressed. There is obviously majority support for independence. Why won’t the UK Government allow the Scottish people to have their freedom?”

‘I said, “The SNP currently has 37 per cent.” She smiled and said, “Let’s talk about energy.”’

LORD OFFORD OF GARVEL Under Secretary of State for Scotland

Affairs Secretary and the UK’s Foreign Secretary in the period of devolution. That is since 1999.’

Last night, Labour peer Lord Foulkes claimed Mr Robertson, who yesterday posted a photograph of himself on Twitter after arriving in Berlin, has made a habit of exaggerating his title on trips abroad.

Lord Foulkes, who was in the city himself last week on a European Affairs Committee visit, said: ‘I was over in Berlin and they [German politicians] said Angus Robertson is coming over next week as the Scottish Foreign Affairs Minister, which is quite ridiculous.

‘The UK Government has to say, “Hang on, this is improper”, and find some way of stopping it.

‘Has he been passing himself off as something grander than his actual title? Very much so. They [the Germans] made it clear, he says he’s effectively a foreign minister like James Cleverly. He’s abroad almost every week doing this. This pretence that Scotland is a colony is nonsense.

‘What they [the SNP] are doing is challenging the UK Government. If they go on like this, and if the UK Government doesn’t do anything about it, they could set up their own army and navy. It’s ludicrous.’

Labour’s Scotland spokesman Ian

Murray said: ‘Air Miles Angus seems more focused on his frequent-flyer status than the state of Scotland’s public services. It is ludicrous a Cabinet Secretary is on a seemingly unending world tour.

‘Scotland’s culture sector is one of our biggest assets, yet the Culture Secretary seems to be spending more time hobnobbing with diplomats than supporting arts and culture within Scotland. While he loses the Filmhouse in his own constituency, he is spending huge amounts of taxpayers’ money flying around Europe and promoting independence, which people will rightly question.’

Scots Lib Dem leader Alex ColeHamilton said Mr Robertson needed to ‘stop playing dress-up diplomat and get on with the job’.

Huge sums have been spent setting up Scottish Government offices in a host of cities, from Washington to Beijing.

The nine offices employ dozens of staff and cost taxpayers nearly £9 million a year.

Critics claim they are a bid to portray Nicola Sturgeon’s administration as representing a fully fledged independent state. Former Brexit Minister Lord Frost has called for an end to the ‘mission creep into foreign affairs’. The Scottish Government would not comment on whether Mr Robertson had discussed the constitution with foreign Ministers.

His spokesman said: ‘These comments reveal the UK Government’s denial of democracy in Scotland is becoming an issue for them on overseas visits.

‘This is a deeply embarrassing position for them to be in.’