The Scottish First Minister has been accused of wasting hours of officials’ time working out her new plan to dismantle Britain. Analysis released on Monday (May 9) shows that 4,062 hours were spent between March 1 and April 30 working on the independence plan. Donald Cameron, spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Constitution, said: “The Scottish public will be appalled that so much of their money is spent on civil servants working on the SNP’s obsession with breaking up the UK.
“These figures confirm that another referendum on independence will always be the nationalists’ top priority.
“But their focus should be on supporting people through the cost of living crisis, accelerating our recovery from the pandemic and, further, supporting Ukrainian efforts against Russian invasion.
“Poll after poll, Scots do not want to be divided again.
“These officials should not be diverted to work on independence when so many other issues deserve their attention.”
The figure comes after Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson confirmed in March that a senior civil servant and 13 other civil servants in different salary brackets were working on the plan at a cost of £900,000.
Robertson said 12.9 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees were working on the plan, completing around 42 working days since March 1.
This equates to 2,225 hours in March and 1,838 hours in April based on an average employee working 37.5 hours per week.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has claimed the Prime Minister needs to “be aware” of Scotland’s priorities.
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She added: “Rather than focusing on how to divide Scotland again, the Government’s priority should be to bring our communities together.”
Ms Sturgeon said on Monday that her government would soon start refreshing the “very positive case” for Scottish independence.
She insisted that the results of the recent election showed there was “a growing sense that the UK, as it stands, is not meeting the needs of Scotland, Wales or the UK. ‘North Ireland”.
The Scottish First Minister spoke after Sinn Fein won the most seats, 27 out of 90, in the Stormont election last week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to block a second referendum on Scottish independence, but Ms Sturgeon says she will fight him in court if he does.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The people of Scotland voted last May to elect a Scottish Parliament which has a clear majority in favor of holding an independence referendum.
“In line with this democratic mandate, the Program for Government said the Scottish Government would begin work on a detailed prospectus for an independent Scotland. This is now underway.
“It is the role of the civil service to support the elected government of the day in the development and implementation of its policies.”
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Source: www.express.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-09 19:03:13
