Edinburgh council leader gets go-ahead for four-day visit to Taiwan

Opposition councillors challenge plans

City council leader Cammy Day has been accused of “jetting off in the middle of a cost of living crisis” after he was given the go-ahead to attend a summit in Taiwan later this year.

The council’s SNP group claimed the objectives of the visit were “vague” while Green councillors raised concerns over the environmental impact it would have. The trip, which will be funded by the Taiwanese government and was approved by a majority of Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem councillors, will see the council leader and one officer attend the 2023 Asian Smart City Summit in Taipei from March 28 to April 1.

Cllr Day stressed to councillors the importance of fostering the city’s “growing” friendships with Taiwan and that Edinburgh was “seen to be making our presence across the world known”. He said: “This is about celebrating the partnership we want to continue to develop and expand upon.”

Council leader Cammy Day will fly to Taiwan for a four-day conference at the end of March.

However, SNP councillor Stuart Dobbin told the full council meeting on Thursday (February 9) that a report on the four-day visit was “vague”. “I like Taiwan,” he said, “my favourite sushi restaurant in the world is tucked up a little side street in central Tapei.” He added he was “keen to understand” what the council’s delegation would be doing to “bring back learning from the Smart City Summit”.

Fellow SNP councillor Danny Aston said: "I hear the average temperature in Taipei in late March and early April are over 20 degrees – it sounds lovely.” But he asked: “Is this really the time for the council leader to be jetting off to Taiwan in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis that we’ve experienced in a generation? Some cynics out there will view this trip as frivolous, as a junket - perish the thought.”

The Greens’ Alex Staniforth said his party was not necessarily opposed to people attending conferences in faraway places. “But we are facing a climate catastrophe and while this one flight’s carbon footprint might not be very high in the grand scheme of things, we should be leading the way at how we look at flights and how necessary they are.”

Cllr Day said after the meeting the critics had “missed the point” and described the comments as “off the mark”. He said: “We’re keen to develop a friendship with Taiwan. It’s not just a visit it’s a conference event that’s set for four days in March. The SNP leader and former Provost have jetted around the world or accepted trips to China and Canada and nobody’s mentioned a thing about that. I accept the comments that we should have included an environmental impact assessment – and we will.”

Edinburgh council agrees to honour Scottish missionary who died in Holocaust