A GREEN MSP turned his back on a local school's climate surgery to attend a national conference instead - resulting in the event's cancellation.

Ross Greer chose to travel outside of his constituency and attend the COP26 Conference of Youth, despite having already committed to attend a climate event at Inverclyde Academy.

Mr Greer's last-minute snub meant the panel had to be called off, as another MSP, the SNP's Stuart McMillan, was also unable to attend due to becoming unwell and losing his voice.

The Tele understands that all eight of the MSPs whose constituencies include Inverclyde were invited to attend, with a representative from every local party except the Conservatives agreeing to participate.

It was hoped that the surgery last week would have given pupils from Inverclyde Academy and Clydeview Academy the chance to question politicians on the climate crisis and the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

Labour's Paul O'Kane, who only found out that the event was cancelled when he arrived at the school on Friday, said he was 'disappointed' in Mr Greer's decision to cancel and that he hoped to go back to Inverclyde Academy in the near future.

He said: "As far as I can tell Ross spent the morning listening to his Scottish Government colleagues, rather than our young constituents.

"I am sure the young people are very disappointed having spent so much time preparing this event on the weekend that COP 26, the biggest moment to tackle climate change, began just miles from their homes.

"The conference is our last best chance to take meaningful action and the decisions made will impact the future of young people at Inverclyde Academy and across the world.

"Politicians need to stop talking and start listening more to young people on these issues – Friday presented a great chance to do this and that is why my diary was clear and I was at Inverclyde Academy ready to engage."

The Conference of Youth (COY) is an event which takes place before the UN's Conference of the Parties (COP) and seeks to prepare young people for their participation in COP.

Mr Greer says his office had told the school well ahead of time that his attendance at the school was likely to be affected by other parliamentary business and insists he has a personal policy of accepting invites from schools, even if an alternative date might have to be found.

He said: "In this case, I was invited to attend the COP26 Conference of Youth, which brings together young people from some of the world's most marginalised and vulnerable communities.

"This was in my capacity as one of Scotland's youngest MSPs and the school were made aware of the change ahead of time.

"It was an historic, one-off gathering and we wanted to ensure that the young people attending felt their voices had been heard, just as the voices of young people in Inverclyde Academy will be heard at the rescheduled climate surgery.

"Rescheduling COP26 wasn't exactly an option."