BORIS Johnson has denied that he declined an offer to meet with Nicola Sturgeon during his two-day visit to Scotland.
The Prime Minister was speaking to the media after visiting Police Scotland Headquarters in Tulliallan and the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh.
Johnson, alongside Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, met officers and staff including Chief Constable Iain Livingstone to discuss plans to police Cop26.
Police Scotland said the efforts at the Glasgow event later in the year will be “one of the largest policing operations undertaken in the history of the United Kingdom”.
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Speaking to the media after his meetings with police, Johnson said his Government was “putting in all the money that’s needed” to ensure a smooth policing operation both at Cop26 and concurrently across the whole of the UK.
The Prime Minister was also challenged on his “snub” of the First Minister’s invitation to meet at Bute House “to discuss Covid/recovery”, which she posted on Twitter on August 2.
I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week. Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, I’ve invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery. We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can. pic.twitter.com/Fo4N4nr2oN
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 2, 2021
Despite the public nature of the invitation, Johnson insisted he had not refused a meeting.
Beginning their question, one journalist said: "You’ve declined an offer to meet the First Minister …", to which Johnson responded: “No I haven’t."
He added: “I’m always delighted, always, always, always, delighted – and we look, we seriously, we work together.
“The Government of the UK, the Scottish Government, at all levels, work together on the things that matter to the people of our country, particularly rolling out vaccinations, and generally, making sure that we bounce back and build back better from the pandemic and we’re going to continue to do that.”
Pushed on whether he had “snubbed” the First Minister, he said: “No, I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Scottish Government and will do so getting ready for Cop26.”
He then spoke at length about the vaccine roll-out, including Unionist talking points such as the NHS and the army.
The Prime Minister was further challenged on why he had decided to visit Scotland this week, despite having been conspicuous in his absence during the Holyrood election campaign.
Johnson had previously said “wild horses” would not keep him from the campaign trail, but he did not cross the Border once ahead of the vote on May 6.
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Asked why this was, he avoided answering entirely. Johnson said: “Well, I’m very glad to be here today, and this is a moment for me to talk to people at Police Scotland about all the wonderful work that they’re doing, and particularly, to thank them for their efforts during the Carbis Bay G7, talk about what we’re doing to get ready for the Cop26 here in Glasgow, and it’s going to be a massive effort for the whole of the country.”
He continued on talking about Cop26 and climate targets but did not address the substance of the question.
Speculation at the time suggested that the Scottish Tories had asked the Prime Minister to keep out of the Holyrood vote due to his crushing unpopularity in Scotland.
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