Extinction Rebellion hits out at Scotland's climate change citizen assembly

Extinction Rebellion says it is withdrawing from Scotland's citizens' assembly on climate change days before their first meeting.

Scotland's Climate Assembly was set up to allow people to make recommendations on tackling climate change.

It is independent of government but the environmental campaign group say it is "increasingly controlled" by civil servants.

An assembly spokesman said they were disappointed by the group's decision.

He said Extinction Rebellion was invited to take part to ensure a "range of perspectives" and it has provided some "constructive oversight".

The Scottish government said it had no influence over the content of the assembly meetings.

• How well is Scotland tackling climate change?

• Why did Scotland set up a Citizens' Assembly?

What is a citizens' assembly?

The basic idea is for members of the public to be selected, much like a jury, to listen to evidence from all sides of the debate.

Then they make recommendations - in this case, on what Scotland should do to tackle climate change.

The idea is that this "direct democracy" will help to restore people's trust in the political process by involving ordinary people - rather than politicians, parties and other vested interests.

Scotland's Climate Assembly is due to hold its first meeting this weekend.

What do Extinction Rebellion want?

Extinction Rebellion (XR) campaigners want governments to declare a "climate and ecological emergency" and take immediate action to address climate change.

The group describes itself as an international "non-violent civil disobedience activist movement".

Recently 12 people were arrested when they staged a protest outside the Grangemouth oil refinery.

And last year police made 29 arrests after about 300 protesters blocked one of the main roads into Edinburgh's city centre.

The group say tough choices will have to be made to tackle climate change, and XR think they should be made by citizens' assemblies.

These gatherings are "crucial", so much so that the campaigners say they "cannot endorse one that is not good enough".

What do they say is the problem with the citizens' assembly?

XR Scotland says it has decided to leave the assembly's stewarding group - which advises on the running of the assembly.

It has also withdrawn its endorsement of the citizens' assembly - saying it is "no longer a good enough response to the climate emergency".

This is because it says the assembly has been "blinkered" and therefore cannot come up with radical enough solutions to climate change.

XR claims the secretariat - responsible for organising and running the assembly - has "actively resisted" including views of certain experts "because of their association with XR".

Despite initially being open to the assembly setting its own ambitions the secretariat has started to insist that any recommendations are actionable by the Scottish government, XR claims.

And the civil servants seconded to the assembly use "government processes, ways of working and attitudes towards the scale of the crisis".

Its campaigners say they will now try to make a difference from outside the assembly.

What are the climate assembly and the government saying?

The climate assembly spokesman said they wanted to hear from a range of experts.

"We invited Extinction Rebellion to join our stewarding group in the spirit of transparency and to ensure a range of perspectives informed the assembly design," he said.

"They provided some constructive insight, and we are disappointed they have decided to leave.

"Our first commitment is always to our assembly members. We must ensure they hear balanced evidence from a range of experts that allows them to discuss and make recommendations on how Scotland should change to tackle the climate emergency in an effective and fair way."

A spokesman for the government said the assembly was independent and it had no influence over the content of its meetings.

"The assembly will be a crucial part of involving citizens in our transition to net zero," he added.

"Being a member will be both a privilege and a responsibility. People will be asked to learn from experts and each other; to deliberate and to be respectful of others' views in making recommendations that will impact almost every aspect of our future as we become a net-zero society."