Sturgeon stars in Young Scot Christmas video

Nicola Sturgeon opens the front door of Bute House. Picture: YouTube/Screengrab

Based on the famous sequence in popular Christmas film Love Actually, a group of young people show up at the First Minister’s residence at Bute House, in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, and show a series of cards with messages written on them.

Put together, they read: “Just because it’s Christmas (and you’re the First Minister), we want to share what love and hope means to young Scots.

“Love is like... Gran’s soup on a dreich day - it makes us feel cosy and warm like our onesies!”

“It makes us feel safe and secure as we try to make sense of the world and our place in it.

“It’s even better than our favourite footie team scoring a goal.

“Children need love to grow but so do teenagers.

“As Scotland’s First Minister, can you share this message?

“We want everyone in Scotland to take some time out this festive season to show a young person that you love and care for them.

“That beats any present under the tree, because all young people really need is love, actually.”

Young Scot Chief Executive Louise Macdonald, said on youngscot.net:

“The story behind our Christmas message this year is a simple one: we want the world to remember how important love is for all young people.

“Often in our work we spend time involved in discussions about all things needed to help children make the transition into young adults and beyond.

“The most important thing to them is to feel loved. They need to know they are loved - to be told and to be shown - just at the point when they are making real their own identity independently, trying to make sense of an often incoherent world.

“For some reason as a society we sometimes struggle to accept this.

“As ever, young people say this best themselves, so we handed it over to them to share the message. We were delighted that Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined us to help spread the word - and the love - by adopting the film as part of her message for the festive season.”

Young Scot are also using the hashtag #YSLove to promote the campaign.