Failing to apologise to emergency service staff and volunteers who risked life and limb during the Glen Trool wildfire is ‘a missed opportunity” from the First Minister.
MP John Cooper wrote to John Swinney calling for an apology after he made ‘crass party political’ comments about Scotland’s preparedness for wildfires just days before the Galloway blaze broke out.
‘Instead of engaging sensibly with questions from MSP Finlay Carson about Scottish Fire and Rescue’s budget and ability to tackle wildfires which are increasingly frequent and intense, Mr Swinney instead complained about a lack of Conservative backing for his SNP budget.
‘It was entirely unnecessary and beneath the office of First Minister. It is not possible to square behaviour of that sort with Mr Swinney’s pledge to be First Minister “for everyone”.
‘Instead of a recent photo opportunity at a charity in Dumfries, Mr Swinney could have used his visit to the region to meet some of the emergency staff and Galloway Mountain Rescue Team volunteers. They were out on the hills when Mr Swinney was having a rare old time in New York for Tartan Week.’
Mr Cooper, Conservative and Unionist MP for Dumfries and Galloway, said that rather than offering an apology, Mr Swinney had doubled down in his reply, claiming ‘it was simple factual point’ that it was ‘hypocritical’ for Conservative MSPs to complain about budgets.
‘Mr Swinney also said Conservatives should make suggestions on how to increase Scottish Government budgets, apparently forgetting he’s in charge.
‘If Mr Swinney does want suggestions about increasing budgets, though, I’d say he should stop spending taxpayers’ money on ferries that don’t sail; shut the SNP’s fake embassies around the world; and stop sending his ministers to China – foreign affairs is nothing to do with the Scottish Government as their blundering around on the world stage proves.’
