No. 10 ‘takes away welcome mat’ for visits from Nicola
NICOLA Sturgeon will no longer be granted access to Prime Minister Theresa May in a highly provocative move which is likely to cause a major row with the SNP.
From now on, the SNP leader will only get to deal with Scottish Secretary David Mundell because ministers believe ‘he is at the same level as her’.
Since she became Prime Minister, Mrs May has held several face to face meetings with Miss Sturgeon to discuss issues including Brexit and aspects of devolution.
The First Minister was the first major leader the Prime Minister met just days after she entered Downing Street for the first time.
But the doors of Number 10 will now be firmly closed to Miss Sturgeon in a deliberate attempt to downgrade her stature.
The UK Government believes that allowing Miss Sturgeon regular access to Mrs May boosts her profile and makes her look like an international leader.
A Tory minister told the Scottish Daily Mail: ‘She will no longer get the same access to the Prime Minister. She should be meeting David Mundell because he is at the same level as her.’
With negotiations under way on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, Miss Sturgeon would have been expecting regular updates from the Prime Minister on the Brexit deal and the powers which will be transferred to Holyrood from Brussels.
But the UK Government instead intends to offer weekly meetings for Miss Sturgeon and her Brexit Minister Michael Russell with Mr Mundell and new Scotland Office Minister Lord Ian Duncan.
Although the Prime Minister will still occasionally host meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee, which Miss Sturgeon and the leaders of the other devolved administrations attend, one-to-one meetings will no longer take place.
It will be a significant change of approach from Mrs May.
Within only 48 hours of becoming Prime Minister last July, she travelled to Edinburgh to meet Miss Sturgeon at Bute House, her official First Minister’s residence.
After posing shaking hands on the steps, she promised that the UK Government would be ‘fully engaging with the Scottish Government in the forthcoming negotiations about the UK’s exit from the European Union’.
Speaking before the trip, Mrs May said: ‘This visit to Scotland is my first as prime minister and I’m coming here to show my commitment to preserving this special union that has endured for centuries. I believe in a union, not just between the nations of the United Kingdom, but between all of our citizens.’
However, some senior Tory figures believe the visit made Miss Sturgeon look like an international dignitary, rather than the leader of a devolved nation.
They also fear it made it look like the First Minister was representing Scotland while the Prime Minister looked like the leader of the rest of the UK. Another high-profile encounter happened in a Glasgow hotel in March, ahead of Mrs May triggering Article 50, beginning the process of Britain exiting the EU.
During the meeting, Miss Sturgeon told her she should allow a vote on a second independence referendum but the Prime Minister reasserted that ‘now is not the time’ to be discussing the issue.
The First Minister last week claimed Mrs May’s Repeal Bill is a ‘naked power grab’ which will weaken the Scottish parliament.
The issue is likely to be seized on by Miss Sturgeon in the run-up to MSPs being asked to vote on whether to approve the legislation in a crunch vote on a ‘legislative consent motion’ in the autumn.
Although Mrs May has given a commitment that no powers will be taken away from Holyrood as a consequence of Brexit, and that some new powers will be devolved, Miss Sturgeon has said she will encourage MSPs to refuse consent unless major changes are made to the legislation.
She would have expected to be able to put across her demands directly to Mrs May – but will instead have to do so with Mr Mundell and Lord Duncan.
A Scottish Government source said: ‘Theresa May is a badly weakened PM, but it speaks volumes if she now doesn’t feel confident enough to meet the First Minister.
‘And David Mundell’s credibility is in tatters after his failure to stand up for Scotland over the Tories’ grubby deal with the DUP.’