Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland is in a “very strong” position over Brexit following a meeting with the Prime Minister.

The First Minister said the European Union’s attitude towards Scotland has softened and claimed it could be possible for Scotland to remain in the EU while the rest of the UK leaves.

Ms Sturgeon met new Prime Minister Theresa May for the first time in Edinburgh on Friday.

After the meeting, Ms May said she will not trigger Article 50 – the formal mechanism for leaving the EU and begins two years of negotiations – until she believes “we have a UK approach and objectives”.

ADVERT

Asked if the Prime Minister had given her a veto over Article 50, Ms Sturgeon told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “That certainly appeared to be an interpretation that some put on the Prime Minister’s remarks after the meeting and […] I think that puts Scotland in a very, very strong position.

“That’s a position I am going to use as well as I can.”

Ms Sturgeon has set up a group to consider options for preserving Scotland’s place in Europe.

She said it could be possible to find a solution where Scotland remains in both the EU and the UK – a move which Scottish Secretary David Mundell has described as fanciful.

ADVERT

Ms Sturgeon said: “We’re in uncharted territory, and when you are in uncharted territory with effectively a blank sheet of paper in front of you, then you have the opportunity to try to think things that might have previously been unthinkable and shape the future.

“I think there are opportunities. The positive outcome of the meeting I had with the Prime Minister on Friday was that she said she was prepared to listen to options the Scottish Government would bring forward to give effect to how Scotland voted and we will certainly bring forward options.”

Her comments contradict remarks by some EU leaders, including Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who said that if the UK leaves the European Union, Scotland must also leave.

But the First Minister, who met with key EU figures during a trip to Brussels after the referendum, said Europe’s attitude to Scotland has changed since the 2014 independence referendum.

Asked if the EU may put aside its own rules and act politically to keep Scotland in, she said: “I do think that mood is there, and what I encountered in Brussels was a warmth, an openness, a great sympathy to the position that Scotland finds itself in. Things have changed fundamentally.”