David Cameron will meet Nicola Sturgeon on Monday to discuss how the UK and Scottish governments can cooperate to protect the UK from Islamic State-inspired extremism.
In a meeting at 10 Downing Street, the pair will examine how the two administrations can work together more effectively on security and intelligence matters, as well as discussing Scotland’s fiscal framework and the Conservatives’ proposed changes to trade union laws.
Speaking before the meeting, the prime minister said there was a threat from Isis across Britain, which made it essential for the UK government and the governments of devolved nations to cooperate.
“We are looking at a number of issues, including the use of intelligence information, and we also need to ensure cooperation at a legislative level as well,” Cameron said.
“We cannot afford to give terrorists safe spaces in which to communicate and we must give the police and security services the tools they need to keep us safe in the 21st century. I am hopeful that when we debate the investigatory powers bill in the new year, we can achieve cross-party support for these fundamental concepts.”
The Scottish National party has said it is open to seeing how the government’s proposed investigatory powers bill comes together, but the party supports the call by the independent reviewer of terror legislation, David Anderson QC, to give judges rather than politicians the power to grant interception warrants, something a draft of the government’s bill does not provide for.
The SNP firmly opposed launching airstrikes against Isis in Syria in a Commons vote earlier this month.
Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, said she would be using the meeting to set out the clear opposition to the government’s trade union bill in Scotland. The bill, which will have its second reading in the House of Commons early next year, seeks to limit the powers of unions to call strike action.
“There is clear opposition across Scottish society and across the Scottish parliament to this damaging piece of legislation,” she said. “The number of days lost to strike action have been reduced in Scotland by 84% through partnership working, not by slapping sanctions on workers. To impose this bill on Scotland would be an unacceptable step and I will make that clear to the prime minister.”
Cameron and Sturgeon will continue detailed negotiations on Scotland’s new so-called fiscal framework, the financial rules that will underpin Holyrood’s new tax and welfare powers. The framework was due to be published this autumn, but was delayed until after Christmas to give Treasury officials time to work on the comprehensive spending review.
The prime minister said both governments were committed to getting a good deal for Scotland and that the discussions would be continuing in good faith.
Sturgeon said she was not expecting to agree a final deal on Monday but that she hoped to “make significant progress in agreeing that the deal must be a fair one”.
“We need a fair deal for both governments – no more, no less,” she said. “These considerations are critical. If the financial framework accompanying the new powers is wrong, Scotland could be worse off by hundreds of millions of pounds a year.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has previously warned that the UK and Scottish governments would be unable to meet the promises they made to the public to ensure that no country’s taxpayers suffer after Holyrood is handed nearly full control over Scottish income tax in 2017.
