Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to highlight the benefits of staying in the UK when he meets the Scottish leader on Thursday during his first visit to Scotland since taking office.
Sunak will meet for private and informal talks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who wants to get Scotland out of the UK.
Downing Street said Sunak and Sturgeon will focus on “the shared challenges facing people in Scotland and the rest of the UK” and how the two governments can meaningfully cooperate.
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Sturgeon’s relationship with Sunak’s two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, has been cold and the governments in London and Edinburgh have been at odds over Sturgeon’s push for Scottish independence.
The UK-wide government has repeatedly said the issue was settled in a 2014 referendum, when Scottish voters rejected independence by a 55-45% margin.
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears on his way to attend the weekly Prime Ministers Questions session at Parliament in London, England on January 11, 2023. Sunak is scheduled to visit Scotland on Thursday for first time since he became Prime Minister. Minister.
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Sturgeon disagreed, and his semi-autonomous government has pushed for a new referendum. But in November, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Sturgeon government did not have the power to hold a new independence referendum without the consent of the British government.
Sunak and Sturgeon are also expected to jointly announce millions in UK government funding on Friday to boost investment in the Scottish economy.
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Sunak’s office said the funding aims to create thousands of highly skilled green jobs and boost growth across Scotland.
