The positive outcome of the meeting I had with the Prime Minister on Friday was that she said she was prepared to listen to options the Scottish Government would bring forward to give effect to how Scotland voted and we will certainly bring forward options’.
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She said: “We are in uncharted territory, and when you’re in uncharted territory with effectively a blank sheet of paper in front of you then you have an opportunity to think things that might previously have been unthinkable and shape the future.so I think there are opportunities”.
And speaking to Sky, David Davis, the United Kingdom government minister responsible for Brexit, said he did not think Scotland could have such an arrangement.
Although Mrs May campaigned for Britain to remain within the European Union – and suggested before taking the reins at Downing Street that she would not invoke Article 50 this year – two of her cabinet ministers tasked with leading Britain out of the European Union have indicated that they would like to see a much speedier timetable.
“If you are asking me right now, do I think Theresa May will never ever trigger Article 50 unless I am saying to her I am absolutely happy with the direction that the United Kingdom is taking, I don’t know that that is the case, but what she did seem to indicate is that she wants, as I want, to see if we can find options that respect how Scotland voted”.
“I will have an independence referendum if I come to a conclusion that I think that is in the interests of Scotland”.
Ms Sturgeon said she was in a “strong position” following the Prime Minister’s statement and would now work to assess all of the available options to Scotland to keep it inside the EU.
She told Express.co.uk: “The PM can not allow Nicola Sturgeon to either hold the rest of the Union to ransom or hide behind her as a reason for not instigating Brexit”.
Sturgeon said leaving the European Union would be damaging for Scottish jobs, universities and workers rights, and she would go on to explore every available option to avoid any negative effects of Brexit to Scotland.
Certainly from what she said after the meeting that puts us in a very strong position.
“That’s a position I’m going to use as well as I can”, she added.
Brexit: How could Scotland stay in the EU?
“And we will try as best we can – they can’t have a veto because there are 17.5 million people who have given us a mandate, they have told us what to do, we can’t disobey it – but what we can do is to try to do what we can to minimise any disruption or turbulence or problems”.
Asked about a potential spike in immigration numbers, Mr Davis told the Mail on Sunday: “We may have to deal with that”.
Mrs May said: “I have been very clear that this Government will make a success of our exit from the European Union”.
He told the Sunday Times: “We’ve already had a number of countries saying, “We’d love to do a trade deal with the world’s fifth biggest economy without having to deal with the other 27 members of the EU”.
Mr Davis said he did not believe Scotland would want another independence referendum.
“If it’s not possible to do that within the United Kingdom then I’ve been very clear that of course the option of a second independence referendum is one that has to be on the table”.
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“We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date”.
