Nicola Sturgeon has insisted she has no plans to share platforms with David Cameron or George Osborne as part of the campaign to stay within the European Union.
The Scottish First Minister believes that membership of the EU is crucial to Scottish jobs and economy – a message she is set to take to an audience in Brussels this week.
The SNP leader said she hoped figures other than politicians would come to the fore of the debate and said she would not be campaigning alongside the Prime Minister or Chancellor for a “Yes” vote in the referendum on EU membership promised by the end of 2017.
Speaking on Sky News’s Murnaghan programme, Ms Sturgeon said: “Well I’ve got no plans to share platforms with David Cameron or George Osborne or anybody else in the Conservative Party.
“I’ll make a case as leader of the SNP, as First Minister of Scotland, based on my belief that Scotland’s interests and, I would argue, the UK’s interests, are best served by being within the European Union.
“I hope we see many non-politicians come to the fore of this debate as well and make the positive case for Scotland and the UK remaining within the European Union.
“Yes, I’ve been perfectly open about the imperfections of the European Union, about the flaws and the deficiencies of the European Union as it currently is, but arguing the case for sensible reforms and also arguing the case that our economic interests are best served by being within.”
Ms Sturgeon also told the show: “I think what is dangerous about the approach David Cameron is taking right now is that he is taking the UK perilously close to the exit door and I think that’s wrong.”
Ms Sturgeon will visit Brussels on Tuesday to deliver her first speech in the EU capital since becoming First Minister.
Writing in the Sunday Herald today, she said her message will be a simple one – that her government sees the country’s future as one of continued European Union membership.
“The importance of this message to our economy and future prosperity cannot be overstated,” she wrote.
“It will also be an important counterpoint to the message David Cameron is seeking to deliver in his round of shuttle diplomacy between European capitals, as he seeks to ‘renegotiate’ the terms of the UK’s EU membership in ways which remain obscure, and in talks in which even the Prime Minister seems unsure what would constitute success.
“It is important that our friends and neighbours in other European countries hear a counterbalancing narrative, and understand that there are those in the UK who are positive and constructive about how we can work together, and crucially, about how we can make the EU itself work better for its citizens.”