THE COP26 President has been accused of reneging on promises to address Scottish businesses’ concerns ahead of the global summit.
Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central, said Alok Sharma had u-turned on his promise to meet her to discuss constituents’ concerns about the impact the global climate conference was going to have on their businesses.
It comes a week after Mr Sharma agreed to meet Ms Thewliss, when she said companies located within the secure zone of cop26 had yet to find out details of a promised compensation scheme by the UK Government.
Mr Sharma said last week that “businesses within the secure perimeter will be compensated for any loss of revenues” and added that he would be “very happy to meet to discuss the matter.”
However now, Ms Thewliss says the government minister has now backed down over the promise, and questioned the commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle over what she could do.
She said: “The minister now appears to be reneging on his promise to me in this house to have a meeting.
“Is there anything that you can do, Mr. Speaker, to advise what I should do in the circumstances because the businesses in my constituency are extremely frustrated and extremely disappointed to have this response from the minister. I know and accept that the minister is busy but if you've made a promise in this house, surely that should mean something.”
Speaker Hoyle said that he had “great faith” in Mr Sharma, and added: “I'm sure that his word is his bond and I'm sure he'll be listening to it and will be arranging his diary forthwith.
“I'm sure that Treasury benches will just remind him of that commitment and I would expect him to fulfil that.”
The question comes after MPs heard yesterday from the head of communications for Glasgow City Council that no details of the business compensation scheme had been forthcoming from the Cabinet Office, despite promises that they would receive funds for the time they are forced to close.
Colin Edgar told a session of the Scottish Affairs Committee that he while he had not got more information about the scheme, he believed it was still going ahead as planned and firms would be compensated.
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