No one likes being given a public telling-off. But that is exactly what happened when foreign secretary David Cameron decided to flex his “muscular unionism” by directly and openly rebuking the Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf for holding his own bilateral meetings with national leaders at the COP28 summit.
The main point of tension relates to a meeting with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at which no UK diplomats were present. Only a month into his new job, Cameron has made a clear statement of intent by reminding the first minister openly of Scotland’s “proper” place in international relations. Such direct engagement with another national leader can only be carried out at the largesse of the British state.
Under the hierarchical nature of the devolution settlement, responsibility for international affairs remains the preserve of the UK’s central state authorities. Other areas of policy are then “devolved” to the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
