Nicola Sturgeon has written to Boris Johnson to request a meeting on coronavirus recovery when the UK prime minister arrives in Edinburgh later this week.
The First Minister has extended an invitation to Bute House to her Westminster contemporary for the first face-to-face meeting between the pair since the covid-19 pandemic started last year.
It is understood the Tory leader will make just his second visit to Scotland this year over the coming days.
The First Minister has called for a sit-down meeting to discuss the “covid recovery” and how “governments must work together as best [they] can” despite political differences.
In a letter to the PM’s private office and shared on social media, Sturgeon wrote: “Dear Boris, I understand you will be in Scotland later this week and thought this might offer us an opportunity to meet in person in Edinburgh for a discussion on the current covid situation and our respective plans for recovery - focussing, obviously, on the areas where it is important that our governments work together.
“I would be happy to welcome you to Bute House and hereby extend an invitation.”
The PM was roundly booed during his last visit to the First Minister’s official residence in July 2019, with the pair awkwardly posing outside before Johnson was ushered indoors.
He quipped that his visit “seemed to have attracted a lively group of supporters”.
Posting the letter on Twitter, the First Minister wrote: "I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week.
"Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, I've invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery. We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can."
