SCOTLAND’S Chief Constable has said he will seek “full recovery” of the policing costs of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow from the UK Government.
After warnings this week that the operation could cost “hundreds of millions” of pounds, Iain Livingstone confirmed Police Scotland had made an “early estimate” of a bill of more than £200 million. And he insisted that there “cannot be detriment to funding of the police service in Scotland” from the UN summit, which is being hosted by the UK Government.
Livingstone said the £200m figure is a “very indicative” estimate of the cost of policing the November event.
An estimated 90,000 people, including around 200 world leaders, are expected to take part in the conference. Police also believe a climate change march planned to coincide with the summit could attract up to 500,000 demonstrators.
Speaking at a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) meeting, Livingstone said the cost highlights the “significance and magnitude” of the event.
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Police officers will be brought into Scotland from every force in the country, the meeting was told, with the cost of housing them potentially running into tens of millions of pounds.
Livingstone said: “There cannot be detriment to the funding of the police service in Scotland as a result of us delivering on the United Kingdom Government’s intention to host this conference on climate change in Glasgow. I’m not being ridiculous in seeking full cost recovery, I am being absolutely legitimate for the public purse and for the police service.”
The Scottish Government has already insisted the UK Government should pick up the bill. Livingstone said COP26 will be “one of the biggest events ever hosted in the United Kingdom, with a significant number of heads of state expected to attend, as well as tens of thousands of delegates”.
He also warned of potential “significant and legitimate demonstrations and protests”.
Livingstone said: “It will focus the attention of the world on the collective ability of Scotland to host a safe, secure and productive international conference with empathy and integrity. Policing will be central to that and the supporting police operation required is of itself a significant undertaking. Our early assessment indicates the policing cost of COP26 could potentially exceed £200m in planning multiple site security, mutual aid and specialist support.”
Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins, above, told SPA members about some of the challenges the event poses. The summit runs from November 9-20, but he said officers will need to “stand up the full policing operation” at least two weeks before that.
He said: “This is going to be without question the biggest policing operation in recent years. Even if you go back to the London Olympics, it will be on a parallel with that in terms of officer numbers, but the unique nature of this makes the threat level quite different.”
Higgins said protests at the conference would not just be about climate change, adding that some of the attending nations will attract protests because of their domestic policies.
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He also spoke about the mass climate march that will “most likely” take place in Glasgow to coincide with the event. Higgins said: “We could reasonably anticipate in excess of 100,000 people – that’s a very conservative estimate because when it happened in Madrid it was reported that 500,000 people that took to the streets.”
Livingstone said his key priorities were to police the event while ensuring the people of Scotland are effectively protected and policed”. But he added: “It is my professional opinion that any suggestion that the climate change conference will not impact on the wider community of Scotland is fanciful.”
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