Nicola Sturgeon has expressed hope that she and Theresa May could soon reach an agreement over Brexit power-sharing arrangements spelled out in the EU withdrawal bill, following talks at Downing Street.



The Scottish first minister said that while there had been no immediate breakthrough in Wednesday’s discussions, also involving her Welsh counterpart, Carwyn Jones, progress had been made.

“We didn’t reach agreement today. There was no expectation going into the meeting that we’d reach agreement today,” Sturgeon told reporters outside No 10 after a bilateral meeting with May.

This had followed a joint ministerial council meeting involving Jones, also attended by officials from Northern Ireland. Jones was also due to meet May one-to-one.

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“We all aired our views and I think there is an understanding of the issues that require being resolved, and an indication on all sides that we want to reach agreement,” Sturgeon said.



“From the Scottish government’s perspective there is a very important issue principle at stake – we can’t have our powers restricted or reduced without the consent of the Scottish parliament.” The hope was to reach agreement in the next couple of weeks, Sturgeon said, “because there now is real urgency”.

After the meeting, a Downing Street spokeswoman said that on the withdrawal bill, which seeks to transpose EU regulations and laws into UK statute, the parties were “committed to continuing to work together to find an agreement”.

The meetings with May also involved discussion of a planned post-Brexit transition deal, Sturgeon said. “I made clear the importance and the urgency on that.”

May also briefed the leaders on the response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack. Sturgeon said: “We were united in our condemnation of Russia’s actions, and I expressed my support for the steps the prime minister has announced in the Commons this afternoon.”

On the withdrawal bill, the sides are at odds over power sharing in at least 24 areas including GM crops, organic farming, fishing quotas, food labelling and food safety, and pesticides.

While the Scottish and Welsh governments are presenting a united front, it is widely thought that Jones is closer to a deal than Sturgeon. Both devolved governments have introduced rival legislation on Brexit in case they fail to reach a deal on the UK government’s EU withdrawal bill.

Jones said: “Progress has been made, but I am not yet in a position to recommend to the national assembly that we should give our consent to the withdrawal bill.” But he added: “I’m hopeful we will be in a position where that will be possible in the next few days – no more than a week or two, I would say, time is running out – but we are not there yet.”