NICOLA Sturgeon has stepped in to defend Scottish Greens minister Lorna Slater after she was accused of making “lazy demands” during the COP26 conference.

Ms Slater told aides she did not want to work every day during the crucial summit, adding for them not to arrange more than "two things in one day", the Scottish Sun reports.

The MSP, who earns just under £100,000 a year, was blasted for her demands which were revealed in an email from her private secretary. 

These included adequate days off, no early starts following a late finish and plenty of time to eat during the conference.

However, the First Minister has since intervened, insisting the MSP was an “incredibly hard worker”.

The Herald:

The message — sent to a wide list of civil servants and advisers two weeks before the event — read: “The Minister doesn’t want to do any more than two things in a day given there will be other work to do in and around that.

“It may be feasible to do three things in a day if they are all nearby one another and don’t require much preparation.

“Consideration should also be given to any evening events in Glasgow where the Minister may be very late (post 10pm) getting home in which case there should be a later start the following day.

“The Minister commented that she can’t be working 14 days straight — she needs two full days completely off, they don’t need to be consecutive.”

Ms Slater arrived at the summit a week late due to testing positive for Covid. 

Ms Sturgeon was asked about the reports following backlash from opposition parties, which included Tory MSP Graham Simpson calling Ms Slater a “Hollywood diva”.

The Herald: United Nations COP 26 climate change conference preparation. Panoramic GV of the SEC campus in Glasgow where the conference is taking place.  COP 26 starts on 31st October and runs to 12th November...Photograph by Colin Mearns.23 October 2021.

READ MORE: Greens minister Slater 'didn't want to work every day' at COP26

She said: “All my ministers work hard, they’re expected to work hard, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Lorna is an incredibly hard worker. I’ve seen that in the time that she has been in the Scottish Government.”

Ms Sturgeon said the comment about wanting two days off was “over the course of a 14-day period”.

The First Minister, who brought the Greens into her Scottish Government after signing a cooperation agreement with the party, added: “All ministers will have different patterns of working to take account of all sorts of things but Lorna and the rest of my ministerial team are hardworking, as the country has every right to expect them to be.”

The email sparked strong reactions from Holyrood. 

Scottish Labour’s net zero, energy and transport spokesman Colin Smyth said: “We already knew Green ministers’ jobs were made up, but I hadn’t realised they were part-time. 

“This staggering set of rules from Lorna Slater show just how out-of-touch the Greens really are — and how little interest they have in delivering a green agenda. 

“The minister’s point-blank refusal to work a little overtime to attend the most important global climate conference in years shreds the last of her environmentalist credentials. 

“It looks a lot like the two things Lorna Slater does per day are propping up a failing SNP administration and cashing her ministerial paycheck.” 

The Herald:

Tory environment spokesman Graham Simpson added: “This astonishing email reads like the demands of a Hollywood diva, not a Scottish Government minister.

“The future of the planet was on the line, so it defies belief that an environment minister should be putting restrictions on her workload and insisting on days off during this crucial summit.

“Emissions don’t take days off. If she wants to be a government minister, Lorna Slater must grow up and accept the responsibilities that come with the job.”

An inside source also slammed Ms Slater's attitude to working during the summit. 

“It certainly raised eyebrows. The Greens could only have dreamed of being in government a year ago and all of a sudden they had two ministers as COP26 approached," they told the Scottish Sun. 

“Scotland was the focus of whether we let the world burn but a Greens minister whose party was set up to save the planet can’t even be bothered working every day.” 

They added: “The nature of politics is that it’s not nine to five, and that is not great for family life. 

“But COP26 was very much a one-off and you would expect a Green minister especially to be making an exception.

“There are other ministers who wouldn’t dream of making a fuss like this — especially not during COP26, having claimed that it was so vital to saving the planet.”

Despite the comments from Labour’s Colin Smyth, his party colleague Mercedes Villalba MSP insisted Ms Slater was not being “lazy” by attending two events a day, as well as her other ministerial duties.

Ms Villalba tweeted: “It’s not ‘making a fuss’ to ask for one day off a week. It’s not ‘lazy’ to attend two events a day alongside ministerial duties.

“If we’re serious about encouraging a diverse range of candidates to stand for Parliament, this macho attitude to work has to end.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “All Scottish ministers worked hard throughout COP26 to make it a success. 

“In spite of having Covid for the first week, Ms Slater had a busy schedule of engagements and initiatives to demonstrate leadership on the climate emergency here in Scotland, including banning some of the most harmful single-use plastic products.”