Sturgeon should adopt a more ‘grown-up’ stance, May warns before leaders’ meeting
ASSISTANT POLITICAL EDITOR THERESA MAY has warned Nicola Sturgeon she must adopt a “grown-up” approach to Brexit talks ahead of a meeting of UK national leaders at No 10 tomorrow.
The Prime Minister said she wanted a more mature relationship with Ms Sturgeon, the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, and the other leaders of devolved administrations.
It comes amid frustration in Whitehall that Ms Sturgeon is using the Brexit vote fallout to further her party’s ambition of Scottish independence.
This week she published a new Independence Referendum Bill after Scottish voters backed staying in the EU while the English and Welsh voted to leave. Mrs May will host Ms Sturgeon as well as Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First Minister, and Northern Ireland’s Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness.
“When I stood upon the steps of Downing Street I made clear the importance of our great Union,” Mrs May said. “Far more than mere geography brings us together, and we are much more than the sum of our parts. As we move into this new chapter, we must seize the opportunities ahead, as we will achieve far more together than we could ever do apart.”
Ahead of the first gathering of the Joint Ministerial Committee – which brings together UK national leaders – since Mrs May took over, she called for a “new grown-up relationship between the devolved administrations and the UK Government”.
Mrs May has put the body on a more formal footing by promising to meet at least once every year – with the location rotating across the four governments – and produce an annual report.