Nicola Sturgeon: Levelling up proposals are a distraction from PM’s problems

A new Levelling Up White Paper has been described as a “desperate attempt” to divert attention away from the Prime Minister’s problems, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The Prime Minister is fighting for his premiership after an update from senior civil servant Sue Gray showed the Metropolitan Police are investigating 12 lockdown-busting events in Downing Street and Whitehall.

The proposals, which will outline plans for 12 “national missions” – including improving public transport, 5G connectivity and life expectancy – are to be enshrined in law.

But Nicola Sturgeon has called into question the purpose of the document’s release.

“It’s re-hashed money, it’s re-hashed announcements and it’s a pretty desperate attempt by a beleaguered Westminster Government and an utterly discredited Prime Minister to try and divert people’s attention and I think it might take more than that to succeed,” the First Minister said.

One of the announcements made ahead of the publication of the document would bring together the heads of the devolved administrations to work together in the same way as the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.

But Ms Sturgeon said she had not been invited to such a summit.

“I don’t know what he means,” the First Minister said on Wednesday.

“I spoke to Michael Gove on the phone last night, he didn’t ask me to be involved in anything – he told me what he would be announcing today.

“I made the point that as First Minister of Scotland I shouldn’t be getting told about it less than 24 hours before he announced it.”

She added: “I always welcome extra money for Scotland, but these are issues that are – in the main – the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament and Westminster is, I know, trying to muscle in, to spend money, make decisions over the heads of not just the Scottish Parliament, but the Welsh Parliament, the Northern Irish Parliament as well.

“If the UK Government is genuine about wanting to work together, and I’m very happy to do so, the essential starting point for them is to actually respect the responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament rather than ride roughshod over them – that’s a much better foundation for working together.”