Edinburgh Book Festival awarded £300k in taxpayer cash after Nicola Sturgeon ex-aide hired
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The Edinburgh International Book Festival received £300,000 of taxpayer cash weeks after Nicola Sturgeon's ex-chief of staff was appointed as director.
The former first minister, who is among the headliners for the event, will be promoting her new memoir - Frankly. Her former top adviser, Liz Lloyd, was hired as director of the festival in May, reports the Daily Record.
A 'one-off' lifeline for the festival of £300,000 was announced by the Scottish Government in June. The event lost its chief sponsor Baillie Gifford last year, after campaigning from eco activists over fossil fuel ties.
Lothian Tory MSP Sue Webber said: 'Taxpayers will be asking questions about how the SNP suddenly found this money a matter of weeks after Nicola Sturgeon's most senior former adviser was appointed a director of the festival.
'While the book festival is ultimately crucial for Scotland's culture and Edinburgh's economy, many will be thinking this is not a mere coincidence. The SNP was only scrambling to find this funding because Baillie Gifford was hounded out from its long-held sponsorship by climate activists.
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"SNP ministers should come clean on how this funding was awarded and if there was any lobbying from former colleagues who were once at the heart of the nationalist government."
Lloyd worked for the Scottish Government for nearly a decade as Sturgeon's top aide, working closely with current FM Swinney who was then deputy FM. Lloyd was Sturgeon's chief of staff from 2014 until 2021 then a strategic adviser until the ex-FM quit in 2023, when Lloyd also left her post.
The book festival said it would be 'spurious' and 'misleading' to suggest any link between Lloyd's appointment and the announcement of the cash, which it said had been planned for months. The event's government funding has more than doubled in the past year to a record £820,000.
Announcing the £300,000 grant on Wednesday, SNP Business Minister Richard Lochhead said it would help schoolkids continue to access free literary events.
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The book festival had previously warned its ability to deliver a successful event had been 'severely compromised' by the ending of its relationship with finance firm Baillie Gifford. The deal was cancelled after activists with the Fossil Free Books campaign targeted book festivals across Britain.
The Scottish Government said: 'The Edinburgh International Book Festival is one the country's most significant cultural institutions. Its schools programme has been crucial in fostering literacy and cultural engagement among young people.
'Supported by the increase in funding for festivals announced in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget, this funding secures those benefits for young readers across Edinburgh, helping schools that might otherwise struggle with travel costs'
Glasgow's Aye Write literary festival had to cancel last year's event after its bid for funding from government quango Creative Scotland was turned down. It is set to be revived.
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