10:56

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has described May’s statement as “dreadful” and her tactics “hugely damaging”.

“The Prime Minister’s statement was dreadful. The EU’s view of the Chequers plan was bluntly and clearly expressed in Salzburg yesterday, but should not have come as a surprise to the UK Government, given that it was not a new position.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon

Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

“Clearly, the Prime Minister has not been listening – Chequers is a dead duck but if her tactic now is to try and double down on those proposals and then seek to blame the EU for a no-deal outcome, then she will do huge damage to all of those she is supposed to serve.

“It would be an abdication of responsibility of huge and historic proportions and an approach for which Theresa May and the Tory party would pay a very heavy political price, especially in Scotland, which overwhelmingly rejected Brexit and whose interests in this process have been ignored at every turn by the UK Government.

“What the latest development shows more clearly than ever is that the only remotely workable way for Brexit to happen is for the UK to stay in the single market and customs union. If the Prime Minister is not prepared to do that, then Brexit shouldn’t happen. A ‘No deal’ or ‘no detail‘ Brexit are simply not acceptable – particularly for Scotland, where we did not vote for any of this.”

Yesterday, Sturgeon wrote to the leaders of the UK’s opposition parties asking them to join her in pressing for an extension to next March’s deadline for leaving the EU to avoid “an economic cliff edge”.