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| - Rising security costs, lack of planning and tensions between Scottish nationalists and the British government have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the UN's COP 26 climate change summit. Some 30,000 people, including 200 world leaders, are expected at the 10-day conference in Glasgow in November for crucial talks to halt rising global temperatures. The Scottish Police Authority, however, has voiced concern at the cost of securing the event, putting the bill at an estimated £250 million ($325 million, 300 million euros). In a briefing paper, it said it was worried about a "lack of clarity" about plans and "the current lack of governance coordination" between London and Edinburgh. It warned that as a result, costs were only "indicative, and will be subject to internal validation and independent security and financial assurance work between now and March 2020". The publication of the paper comes just weeks after Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson sacked former energy minister Claire O'Neill as COP 26 president, and her explosive response. In a letter last month, she said strained relations between the UK government in London and the devolved administration in Edinburgh led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had hit planning. "I am told by COP unit sources that budgets (which I do not see) are ballooning, the team and the Scottish government are in an extraordinary state of stand-off and that you are considering relocating the event to an English location," she wrote. "I had asked if you would consider resetting your relationship with the First Minister -- putting aside the devolution battle for the sake of this vastly more important agenda. "I understand you declined in salty terms." Last week, British media reported that the government was looking at the giant ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands area as a possible replacement for Glasgow. Johnson's spokesman played down reports, telling reporters the ExCel centre was only being looked at as part of normal "contingency planning". But he pointedly said Sturgeon's Scottish National Party-led administration needed "to work with us to make sure this is a successful summit" and provide value for taxpayers. The Scottish government says it expects all costs to be borne by London. Sturgeon has been at loggerheads with Johnson since the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, which saw Britain narrowly vote to leave the bloc. Scottish voters opted to stay in, which Sturgeon and the SNP see as a "material change" in the constitutional relationship of Scotland with England, which have been joined since 1707. Post-Brexit, Sturgeon now wants a new referendum on Scottish independence, six years after a majority voted to remain part of the United Kingdom, and with polls now indicating more in favour. Friction between the two was obvious when crowds booed Johnson outside Sturgeon's official Bute House residence in Edinburgh when he visited the city last year. According to the Scotsman newspaper, Johnson told his Conservative party's annual conference last September he did not want to see Sturgeon "anywhere near" the climate change summit. In response, she said she had attended the past three COP events in Paris, Bonn and Katowice at the invitation of the UN and that she would be in Glasgow. "I fully intend to be in Glasgow, my home city -- and to play my part in making it a success for Scotland, the UK and the world," she wrote on Twitter. She has accused Johnson of "playing politics". A UN panel in 2018 concluded that avoiding global climate chaos needed a major shift in society and the world economy. Global CO2 emissions needed to drop 45 percent by 2030 and reach "net zero" by 2050, to limit temperature rises at 1.5 degrees Celsius -- the safe cap set as a goal in the Paris accord. O'Neill claimed Johnson "doesn't really get" climate change and accused the government in London of a "lack of leadership" on the issue. Her replacement is Alok Sharma, a former international aid minister, who will combine the role with duties as business, energy and industrial strategy minister. The Financial Times on Monday said he had risen "virtually without trace", quoting experts expressing doubts about whether he was high-profile enough to help force through an agreement. srg/phz/jv
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