‘Not entirely clear’ where May will compromise on Brexit, says Sturgeon

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it is “not entirely clear” where Theresa May is willing to compromise on Brexit.

Ms Sturgeon, who held “good” and “open” talks in Westminster with the Prime Minister and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday afternoon, said Mrs May did not say where her red lines might be moved.

She told reporters outside Parliament following the talks: “It’s still to be frank not entirely clear to me where the Prime Minister is prepared to compromise – she seems to know where others might want to compromise but is not being particularly open about where her red lines might be moved or where she sees the room for compromise on her part is.

“I suppose overall my concern is that in the rush to reach some compromise with the clock ticking, what will happen over the next few days, if anything will happen over the next few days, is that a bad compromise will be reached.”

Ms Sturgeon warned: “People will probably heave a sigh of relief that some agreement has been reached but then very quickly realise that it is not in the interests of the UK, it will satisfy no-one and of course will be open to be being unpicked by a prime minister that is not Theresa May, perhaps somebody like Boris Johnson…

“If I was in Jeremy Corbyn’s shoes I would be very wary about signing up to anything that may not be able to be delivered and in fact may not be enough in the first place.”

She said she got the impression Mr Corbyn would “drive a hard bargain” in negotiations with the PM, and that she “really hopes” Labour does not “sell out” for a bad deal.

Ms Sturgeon said Mrs May was “more interested in where I wanted to compromise” but “wasn’t very open about the detail” of how she could move.

“I made the point pretty forcibly to her that if you want to get into a discussion about compromise it has to be a two-way discussion – it can’t simply be in one direction.”

She added: “It’s frustrating when you don’t feel you’re getting any sense from her exactly where her boundaries are – I was trying to be as open as possible about where my boundaries were but I felt I wasn’t exactly getting the same in return.”