Douglas Alexander 'avoided meeting Scottish minister for months'

Alexander took on the job of Scottish Secretary on September 5, after Ian Murray was sacked by Keir Starmer during a reshuffle.

Angus Robertson, while giving evidence to Holyrood’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture committee on Thursday morning, set out how repeated attempts to schedule an introductory meeting with the new Scotland Office boss were

Robertson said officials requested a meeting in the days following Alexander being appointed, but that it was postponed twice before it fell off the agenda completely.

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The Constitution Secretary told MSPs: “Obviously, we have a new Secretary of State for Scotland, who for the avoidance of doubt, I have known for a long time, and is someone who I get on with personally.

“As one might expect, on assuming office, an introductory meeting was requested on the 10th of September.

“A reply was received on the 23rd of September, offering a meeting on the 13th of October. On the 24th of September, the meeting was agreed for the 15th of October.

“On the 7th of October, the UK Government postponed but suggested the 11th of November, which was then agreed.

“But on the 10th of November, the UK Government postponed, initially to later on the 11th and then to quotes, ‘the future’.

Angus Robertson said the meeting was repeatedly postponed (Image: Scottish Parliament TV)

“And we then went on to ask for potential future dates, and have received no response to date.”

Robertson added that similar attempts by his department to arrange a meeting with Yvette Cooper, who during the reshuffle was appointed Foreign Secretary, had also been rebuffed.

“Three approaches have been made for an introductory meeting, and no response has been received. After the third attempt, there was an unsolicited ask from the FCDO for an introductory call with me from a junior minister.

“Now, I would put that on the not really working well, end of this, on the end of the scale.”

The Scotland Office has been contacted for comment.

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Robertson made the comments during an exchange with Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr, who suggested that an independent secretariat could bridge the communications gap between the two governments.

Robertson added: “I'm sure some of this will probably come as news to UK Government ministerial colleagues. I mean, we're all very busy people.

“I get that, and things are cancelled, and it's not always easy to reschedule. I get all of that.

“But I think some of this probably comes as news to some UK Government ministers and taken in the round, I think it really should concern them that when one looks at the sum total of how suboptimal a lot of this continues to be after rhetorical reset, which I've acknowledged, that surely this meeting schedule, securing bilateral meetings, ensuring that interministerial groups are meeting when important things are ongoing, because there are other processes that are underway at the moment that really impact on us.

“We are learning as a government often about things that are agreed on our behalf in devolved areas.

“A recent example is trade talks with the United States with important provisions around pharmaceuticals, as Mr Kerr of course knows that we have a different approach to the providing of medication in Scotland, to the rest of the United Kingdom, to the public.

“Again, you would have thought that a UK Government would involve devolved administrations as part of these considerations, and the first the Scottish Government learnt about it was with the publication of the agreement.”