Scottish Greens call on Prestwick airport to abandon ties with ‘extremist’ Donald Trump
Prestwick Airport has been urged to cut any ties with “dangerous extremist” Donald Trump, the Glasgow Evening Times reported recently. The US Republican presidential candidate was branded “an arrogant and racist bully” in the Holyrood chamber by Scottish Green co-convener Patrick Harvie. He called on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to clarify the relationship between the airport, which was bought by the Scottish Government for £1 in November 2013, and Mr. Trump.
Opposition parties accused the SNP administration of hypocrisy after it was reported the airport had held discussions over “potential partnership opportunities” with Trump Turnberry, the businessman’s golf resort in South Ayrshire.
In 2014, a press release described the relationship between the airport and the Trump Organisation as an “official partnership” and a “strategic alliance”. Ms. Sturgeon withdrew the US entrepreneur’s membership of the GlobalScot business network last year after his controversial comments on Muslims and Mexicans, and former first minister Alex Salmond was among senior SNP figures who backed a ban on Mr. Trump entering the UK following the remarks.
Mr. Harvie said: “It has been clear for many years to anyone who cared to take an interest that Donald Trump was an arrogant and racist bully and I had thought that when Nicola Sturgeon took the decision to rightfully kick him out of the GlobalScot network the Scottish Government had come to regret ever having courted his business.
“But now it appears that Prestwick Airport, publicly owned by the Scottish Government, is pursuing an ‘official partnership’, a ‘strategic alliance’ with the Trump Organisation. “Doesn’t the First Minister agree that any owner of any business, but most particularly a government that exists to serve the public interest, must ensure that the business it owns cuts ties with such a dangerous extremist?”
He asked Ms. Sturgeon to clarify any discussions the Scottish Government has had about the relationship between the airport and the Trump Organisation.
