Brexit deal works for all UK, Theresa May tells Scottish leader

Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party, which governs in Edinburgh, has said it will vote against the draft agreement

Ms Sturgeon has already said her 35 SNP MPs at Westminster will vote against the deal. AFP

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 Ms Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party, which runs a devolved administration in Edinburgh, has said it will vote against Mr May’s Brexit deal.

Defending the deal reached with the EU, Mrs May’s office said after her meeting with Ms 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.”

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Earlier, Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to form a “coalition of opposition” to Mrs 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 Mr Corbyn that Mrs 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,” Ms Sturgeon said.

Ms Sturgeon has already said her 35 Scottish National Party MPs at the British parliament in London will vote against the deal when it comes before the House of Commons. Labour has said it will not countenance a no-deal Brexit.