Foreign officials have expressed “discomfort” when Scottish ministers discuss independence during international visits, Alister Jack has said. The Scottish Secretary appeared before Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee on Monday to discuss how the UK Government promotes Scotland abroad. However, he again defended the decision by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to instruct UK officials to ensure Westminster representatives were present for talks between Scottish ministers and overseas governments. A row has erupted between the two Governments, with Scottish External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson branding the comments “misleading”. Mr Jack told MPs that one example of the “blatant breaches” came from former first minister Nicola Sturgeon who discussed constitutional issues with US deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington in 2022. He told the committee that the foreign representative had personally told him they were not comfortable with Holyrood ministers raising the issue of separation or Scotland’s re-entry to the European Union. He said: “Consuls of foreign countries have made this point to me directly that they find it uncomfortable when the Scottish Government raise separation, independence or other constitutional foreign affairs issues with them because they would no more want, if the French or the Spanish consul or ambassador would no more want to have to organise a meeting, or expect to organise a meeting with, say, the separatists in Catalonia or Corsica with UK Government ministers, nor would they expect us to meet with separatists from other countries. Become a Scottish Sun Subscriber and hit the bell to be the first to know Read The Sun: http://www.theScottishsun.co.uk Like The Sun on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thescottishsun/ Follow The Sun on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottishSun #scotland #alisterJack #snp

• published: 19 Jun 2023
• views: 16074