SNP ‘exacerbating differences’ over Brexit

Ruth Davidson has accused Nicola Sturgeon of trying to “exacerbate” differences between the UK and Scottish governments over access to the single market after Brexit.

The Scottish Conservative leader said she wanted the UK to have the “largest amount of access” to the single market, a position she said she shared with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Over the weekend, the Prime Minister warned the UK could not “keep bits of membership” of the European Union while Ms Sturgeon insisted she was not bluffing about the prospect of a second Scottish independence referendum in the event of a “hard” Brexit.

The First Minister has indicated “soft” Brexit could take the issue off the table in the short-term.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Ms Davidson said the SNP had “spent the last six months using Brexit to desperately try and whip up extra support for independence”.

“That hasn’t materialised, they’re trying to exacerbate any differences between the UK Government position and the SNP position but, actually, I just don’t think that there is a huge amount there when both the UK Government and the Scottish Government are saying they want the whole UK and Scotland as part of the UK to have the best trading deals around the world, including within the EU single market.”