Humza Yousaf met with five foreign leaders without UK official present, Alister Jack claims

It follows a row over Scottish ministers meeting with Foreign officials.

Humza Yousaf met with five different foreign leaders during Cop28 without an official from the UK Government present, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has claimed.

A row erupted over Humza Yousaf’s meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday after Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron threatened to withhold support for the Scottish Government’s international relations efforts due to a lack of Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) presence.

But speaking just hours later at the Scottish Affairs Committee, Mr Jack claimed it happened on four other occasions during the First Minister’s time at the summit.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack. Picture: PA

Mr Jack told Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee: “I think there's a very simple principle here, all ministers in the United Kingdom, irrespective if they're ministers in a devolved administration or the UK Government, when they're overseas when they meet ministers from foreign countries, they must have - this is the protocol for all of us - they must have an official, a civil servant, from the Foreign Office present to take notes.

"Without Foreign Office officials present there was a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, the prime minister of Lebanon and the acting prime minister of Pakistan. There were five different occasions where meetings happened with foreign ministers without an official.

"It's not complicated. If there aren't to be any sanctions, all the Scottish Government have to do is take Foreign Office officials to their meetings. That's all we're asking, which is incumbent on me and every other minister in the United Kingdom and everyone else seems to be able to do it.”

While foreign affairs are reserved to London, devolved governments are allowed to have international discussions on areas under their control.

Committee chair SNP MP Pete Wishart responded he wasn’t informed of the other meetings, beside President Erdogan, only for the Scottish Secretary to explain he “kept them up my sleeve for you today Mr Chairman”.

Mr Wishart sought to defend the First Minister, claiming the Turkish leader’s team were responsible for the meeting, only to be dismissed by Mr Jack, who insisted he heard “directly from the Foreign Office” what had happened.

Asked if he was serious about the threat to withdraw Scottish Government officials from UK Embassies and High Commissions, Mr Jack insisted: "It's very clear in the letter".

There was also discussion of Section 35, something the senior minister described as one of his “favourite” subjects.

Following the UK Government winning the legal case over blocking GRA, Mr Jack was asked if the ruling would encourage him to look for further ways to use Section 35.He said: "No, not at all. I see no reason for us to, you know, go to court again.

"If the boundaries are being pushed, then it is right for the law officers advise my position as Secretary of State to act and you know, I will always act if that's the case.

"I can tell you as we look out now at the sort of future time frame of legislation that's coming forward, I don't see anything currently, in the advice that I've got in front of me, that would lead us to return to court, thank goodness."

Speaking earlier on Monday, the First Minister described Lord Cameron’s letter as “petty and misguided”.

“First of all, let’s be clear – the approach from Lord Cameron is really petty and, frankly, misguided,” he said during a visit in Dunbar ahead of a travelling Cabinet meeting.

“Scotland is the part of the UK, outside of London, that has attracted the most foreign direct investment for eight years in a row, that happens because the Scottish Government’s international engagement is valued (and) has impact.

“To threaten to curtail that, to stop that international engagement – the international engagement from the elected Scottish Government from an unelected lord – I think is misguided and petty.”

Mr Yousaf also claimed the issue could have been resolved privately, had Lord Cameron approached the Scottish Government, saying: “For Lord Cameron to say he’s basically going to stop Scotland’s international engagement because of one meeting, where one FCDO official wasn’t able to attend – because, of course, at events like Cop, diaries can change quite last minute – is really petty, really misguided.

“I suggest to Lord Cameron that next time, if he has an issue like that, he should just pick up the phone, I’m sure it can be resolved.”