Nicola Sturgeon seeking support for Scottish EU talks

Officials briefed on talks Sturgeon held with senior figures in the European Parliament said she discussed whether there was any legal way that a breakaway Scotland might somehow remain in the EU once the United Kingdom completed its so-called Brexit.

“It’s important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27”, said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, describing the British vote as a wake-up call for Europe.

The German Government said the status of Scotland was an “internal” British issue and declined to comment further when asked whether it would engage directly with the Scottish Government.

He began by saying, “Where I’m proudly Scottish, I’m proudly European”.

He said the vote raised “profound questions” for Scotland, and that Ms Sturgeon has an “absolute constitutional right” to do what she thinks is appropriate.

Diplomats said there was a risk that the high-profile welcome for Sturgeon, a day after Cameron’s last European Union summit, could be seen in London as an encouragement to secession, although European Union officials denied any such intention.

Nationalists increasingly believe concerns over the economic turmoil facing Scotland would be offset by the uncertainty of leaving the EU.

Speaking as Nicola Sturgeon arrived on the second day of an emergency summit in Brussels, Mr Rajoy said that “if the United Kingdom goes, Scotland goes too”. And to some extent I’m really surprised you are here. “It’s a type of surrealism”, said Belgium’s Michel.

The First Minister said Ms Davidson was trying to impose an “either/or” choice on Scots when it was the “Conservatives who have recklessly brought this country to the brink”. Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave.

“I don’t underestimate the challenge but I have been heartened today that I’ve found a willingness to listen”, she said, conceding that that did not necessarily make her task any easier.

“We now need to proceed step by step”.

Leave campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a favourite to succeed Cameron as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, have said they want free access to the European Union common market, but would retain the right to control migration.

“If you want the full benefits of the single market, you’ll have to be part of every part of it”, he said.

“We have not said that a referendum will definitely happen – but if it does then that is fairly likely to be the timetable”.

The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding that London activate the EU treaty’s voluntary exit clause as fast as possible.

“This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause”, a senior official in one European Union government said of European Union efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table, while Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal.