Advertisement

Sturgeon rules out Christmas dinner with her parents but may meet them outside

Scotland’s First Minister  has said she may meet her parents outside on Christmas Day but will not have an “indoor Christmas dinner” with them because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nicola Sturgeon said she would “dearly love” to see her parents for the first time since the summer but does not want to put them at risk.

The last time she saw her parents was on July 19 – the day of her 50th birthday.

Ms Sturgeon told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Normally, Christmas, my husband and I would have both our families here in our own home.

“We will not be doing that this year.”

She added: “I’ve not seen my parents since July and I would dearly love to see them today and at Christmas but I don’t want to put them at risk when a vaccine is so close.

“We might go and have a family walk somewhere but the idea … of an indoors Christmas dinner is something we will not do this year.”

Speaking previously about whether she would meet her parents at Christmas, Ms Sturgeon ruled out having dinner with them and said she was “thinking carefully” about meeting them at all.

She said she and her husband normally host a gathering of more than 10 people at their home on Christmas Day, including both sets of parents.

Ms Sturgeon told a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing: “We will not be doing that this year – absolutely not – because I think that would be outwith any kind of reasonable limits and I don’t want to put elderly parents or mother-in-law at risk so we will not do that.”