(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May told Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday that the Brexit deal she has negotiated with the EU will work for all parts of the United Kingdom and deliver on the results of the 2016 referendum.
A majority of Scots voted to remain in the European Union in the referendum and Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party, which runs a devolved administration in Edinburgh, has said it will vote against May’s Brexit deal.
Defending the deal reached with the EU, May’s office said after her meeting with Sturgeon: “(It) will give Scottish businesses the clarity and certainty they need to protect jobs and living standards and see us take back control of our waters, improving the fortunes of our fishermen.”
Earlier, Sturgeon said she wanted to form a “coalition of opposition” to May’s Brexit plan with the main opposition Labour and other parties.
She told the BBC she had held exploratory talks with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and, in a separate meeting, with other opposition party leaders.
She had agreed with Corbyn that May’s deal was a bad one, and that “no deal” should not be the only alternative.
“The next stages of all of this have to be to look at what we can coalesce around in terms of alternatives,” Sturgeon said.
Sturgeon has already said her 35 Scottish National Party (SNP) lawmakers at the Westminster British parliament will vote against the deal when it comes before the House of Commons. Labour has said it will not countenance a no-deal Brexit.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Andrew Roche)
