You wait all this time for a trade trip to China...

Published on Sunday 22 March 2009 21:13

OPPOSITION politicians hit out last night after it emerged that two separate Scottish delegations are going to China within weeks of each other, one led by Labour ministers and one by the SNP.

Jim Murphy, Labour's Scottish Secretary, left yesterday on a trade mission to China. He hopes to help develop it as an export market and to strengthen links between the two nations.

In two weeks, Alex Salmond, the SNP's First Minister, will leave Scotland for a week-long visit to China. He also intends to further trade links between the two countries, as well as working on education and renewables issues.

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, said: "If the two of them were going together, that would be real clout for Scotland in having a voice in China, which I think is important, and would be helpful in the current recession.

"What I think is deplorable is to have this fragmented approach, which frankly means that neither has the full weight of representation that both together would achieve."

Nicol Stephen, the former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said: "The danger here is that because two ministers are appearing within a couple of weeks of each other, they will send out a confused and conflicting message, and that has got to be bad for business."

Mr Murphy said he had not been aware of the First Minister's plans when he booked his trip.

He went on: "

Scotland has two governments, a devolved government in Edinburgh and also the UK government at Westminster. It's important we all do what we can.

"I guess in future, if Alex and I check our diaries better, maybe we can travel together, but it's important that we both do what we can."

Mr Murphy said the UK government was "pretty sensible" and officials in China knew there was a UK government and a devolved Scottish Government, so he did not believe there would be any "mixed messages" from the two trips.

A spokesman for the First Minister insisted Mr Salmond's trip had been booked "many, many months" in advance and had been timed to coincide with the first week of the Easter recess.

He said the First Minister was "relaxed" about Mr Murphy's decision to go to China too on Scotland's behalf but suggested that the Scottish Secretary seemed to have planned his trip after the First Minister's had been arranged and without checking Mr Salmond's diary.