Theresa May wants Brexit talks with Nicola Sturgeon

Theresa May is to meet Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday after pledging to give the Scottish government an "enhanced role" in future Brexit talks.

Mrs May announced the meeting as she made a statement to MPs on how she plans to build support for her deal with the EU.

The deal was defeated by 230 votes in the House of Commons last week.

Since then, she has held talks with the SNP and other opposition parties in an attempt to find a way forward.

But the SNP has said the prime minister must be ready to discuss pausing Article 50, taking no-deal off the table and holding another EU referendum - all of which were dismissed by Mrs May in her Commons statement.

Mrs May said her duty was to implement the decision of the first referendum, and that failing to do so could "damage social cohesion by undermining faith in our democracy".

She also said it would "set a difficult precedent that could have significant implications for how we handle referendums in this country, not least by strengthening the hand of those campaigning to break up our United Kingdom".

However, she announced that she had scrapped the £65 fee millions of EU citizens were going to have to pay to secure the right to continue living in the UK after Brexit.

The Scottish government had previously said it would pay the fee for EU citizens working in the public sector in Scotland.

Mrs May also said she would have further discussions with Northern Ireland's DUP and others on their concerns about the Irish backstop.

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She said she wanted to "reach out beyond this house and engage more fully with businesses, civil society and trade unions" as well as other political parties in order to "try to find the broadest possible consensus on a way forward".

And she promised to take a more "flexible, open and inclusive" approach to involving MPs, and the Scottish and Welsh governments, in negotiating a future relationship with the EU - once her Brexit deal has been approved.

The prime minister added: "While it will always be for her majesty's government to negotiate for the whole of the UK, we are also committed to giving the devolved administrations an enhanced role in the next phase, respecting their competence and vital interests in these negotiations.

"I hope to meet both first ministers in the course of this week, and will use the opportunity to discuss this further with them."

'Save Scotland'

It is expected that the prime minister and Ms Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, will meet in London on Wednesday

Ms Sturgeon tweeted that she was "interested to hear what's going to be different now, but experience tells me to be very sceptical".

Theresa May and Nichola Sturgeon previously held talks at Downing Street in November

The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said the prime minister's strategy was to "run down the clock" and that there was "no sign that she is interested in meaningful talks or meaningful change".

He added: "In Scotland, we have another choice. We did not vote for Brexit and we will not be dragged out of Europe by a Tory government we did not vote for.

"We might not be able to save the UK, but we can save Scotland. We have an escape route from the chaos of Brexit - an independent Scotland."

Mrs May replied that Mr Blackford was "flying in the face of economic reality" by claiming that the best future for Scotland was to leave the UK.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Mrs May of being in "deep denial" about the scale of opposition to her "undeliverable" deal.

He said Labour would back an amendment next week that would rule out the "disaster" of a no-deal Brexit - and he challenged the prime minister to confirm that she would do that if MPs voted for it.

Mrs May attacked the Labour leader for refusing to take part in talks with her on the way forward.