Criticism of Scottish Government's 'mini embassies' misplaced, insists SNP minister

Angus Robertson, the External Affairs Secretary, spoke out as a new report said the offices helped generate forecast international sales of £1.3 billion.

He said he would "love" to see their number expanded in future years, with plans to open a new facility in Warsaw, Poland. The budgets for most of the offices increased slightly in 2025/26 compared to the previous year.

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The Scottish Conservatives have dismissed the offices as "pretend embassies" and criticised the level of spending on international staff and events.

But speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Robertson said: "The criticism, as far as I see it, comes from a particular corner of the political spectrum in Scotland that doesn't have tremendous ambition for Scotland internationally."

The Scottish Government operates two stand-alone “Scotland House” offices in Brussels and London, as well as seven further international offices based in British Embassies or High Commissions.

There are also around 30 “Scottish Development International” (SDI) offices across the world. SDI is the international arm of Scottish Enterprise, the economic development agency.

Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary under former prime minister Rishi Sunak, previously threatened to shut down the offices in British embassies. This threat was issued after a row broke out when former first minister Humza Yousaf met Turkey's president at the COP28 climate summit.

But the Scottish Government says its international work secures investment and safeguards jobs.

An annual report, published on Wednesday, said ministerial visits and trade missions supported £1.89 billion in planned capital investment and £2.15bn in international sales, as well as creating or safeguarding more than 16,700 jobs.

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The report said the nine offices helped secure £1.3bn in forecast international sales. Seven of them - Washington DC, Beijing, Dublin, London, Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen - had their budgets increase slightly year-on-year.

Mr Robertson said: "I think the criticism is misplaced, and I think ill-serves the efforts by very hard-working staff to promote Scotland's economy, our educational links, our opportunities to improve relations with different parts of the world.”

The Cabinet secretary said some of the offices - those in Brussels, Washington DC and Beijing - were opened before the SNP came to power in 2007.

“I think, firstly, it's absolutely normal for devolved governments around the world to promote the interests of their nation or region, and in many respects we should be proud of the fact that Scotland is viewed internationally as being often the best in class for doing what it does,” he said.

Mr Robertson said there were opportunities for the network to do more, for example when it comes to promoting Scotland's cultural sector.

"I would love to be able to grow Scotland's international network and we have plans to do that in Warsaw,” he said.

"But obviously we're living in a time of financial constraint, so our focus has been very much on making sure that we're getting the most out of the existing network."

Plans to open the Warsaw office before May 2026 were previously paused amid spending cuts.