PM refuses SNP call to join EU talks

THERESA May is to reject Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a seat at the Brexit negotiating table.

She is also expected to turn down calls for Britain to retain full membership of the single market.

Miss Sturgeon wrote to the Prime Minister last week to make new demands after the General Election – including devolved governments being able to appoint representatives to the team negotiating the UK’s exit from the European Union.

But talks began yesterday with no one from the Scottish Government.

A Whitehall source said: ‘The Scottish Government will be closely involved but they will not be in the room or part of the negotiating team. The UK is the member state and the UK will be negotiating on behalf of all parts of the UK.

‘The hope now is that we will be able to have far more workmanlike discussions – a bit less political and a bit less grandstanding.’

In her letter to Mrs May, the First Minister stated: ‘It will not be possible for the UK to effectively implement the outcome of Brexit negotiations without the co-operation of devolved governments.’

Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said it was ‘troubling’ that talks were under way ‘led by a UK Government that has no mandate, no credibility, no authority and no clear idea even among its own ranks of what it is trying to achieve’.

She added: ‘We need a more inclusive approach... and an approach that focuses on keeping the UK within the single market.’