London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan praised Nicola Sturgeon for being “on top of her brief” – but claimed that the SNP had “hoarded power” at Holyrood.
The Mayor said his dealings with Ms Sturgeon – who was first minister in Scotland for over eight years – were “very cordial”.
But with the SNP having been in government in Edinburgh since 2007, he accused them of having “hoarded power”, saying this had left many Scots feeling “disillusioned with the Scottish Parliament”.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sir Sadiq said that both “Cardiff and Edinburgh are as centralised as Whitehall”.
He added: “We’ve had the SNP in power for a long time in Scotland, and I think they have hoarded power.”
But he said he was “looking forward” to a change at next May’s Holyrood elections, when he said the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would be “elected as the first minister”.
However, the Labour Mayor stressed his dealings with Ms Sturgeon during the Covid pandemic had been “really good”, adding “she was a grown up”.
Sir Sadiq continued: “Nicola Sturgeon was on top of her brief, she knew her stuff, as did Mark Drakeford.
“She was always courteous to me, we would speak offline about some of the challenges with the government, whether it was Theresa May or Boris Johnson, and my dealings with her were very cordial.”
