Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Why has a plan to give Nicola Sturgeon a seat at the UK Cabinet table been rejected?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

A radical proposal to give Nicola Sturgeon a place at the top table of British politics has been rejected by Boris Johnson, senior Scottish Tories and constitutional experts.

Under the plan – floated privately by Michael Gove – the first minister, alongside her Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts, would have been invited to take part in and shape policy at UK Cabinet meetings.

Mr Gove reportedly argued the proposal would demonstrate that Holyrood was being listened to at Westminster and stem support for independence.

Mr Johnson is reported to have ruled it out as “he doesn’t like the idea of Sturgeon being seen as on the same political level as him”.

One senior Scottish Tory source agreed with the prime minister’s assessment, telling us: “I would worry about a party who are wanting to break up the UK being too involved.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

They added: “Sturgeon likes to present herself as being on a level pegging with the prime minister of the United Kingdom, but she’s not the prime minister of the United Kingdom, she’s the first minister of Scotland.”

Asked about the proposal at today’s daily briefing, the first minister said: “I don’t know whether that proposal is accurate or not.

“I think certainly there is a value to good-quality four-nation discussions, and we’ve had some of them.

“But I’m less bothered about the forum and more bothered about having discussions that are meaningful, where we genuinely listen to each other, respect each other’s views and try to come to common ways forward.”

I just don’t see how, in the real world, that ever works.”

Akash Paun

Ms Sturgeon also made clear that her government would not be bound by collective responsibility, which requires all members of Cabinet to publicly agree to the same policy, if such a proposal where to go ahead.

Akash Paun, constitutional expert at the Institute for Government think-tank, said there were “some very big questions” about how the proposal would work in practice.

He said: “I don’t see any way that Nicola Sturgeon or indeed the other devolved leaders could be part of Cabinet in a full sense as traditionally understood, which would indeed mean they would be bound by collective responsibility, meaning they would have to sign up to a policy position collectively decided and they would have to defend that line in public.

“I just don’t see how, in the real world, that ever works.

“There is some precedent for devolved ministers being invited to Cabinet committee meetings. This happened during the latter phase of Brexit, to some extent under Boris Johnson, but in particular under Theresa May.

“But that is rather different to the functioning of the Cabinet of the UK Government.”

The Cabinet Manual itself, which sets out the main rules for the conduct of government, makes clear what Westminster’s relationship with the devolved administrations should look like.

The manual specifically states that devolved governments are “separate administrations and not subject to the collective responsibility” and as such “consideration should be given to writing separately where they have an interest”.

It adds that in some “exceptional” circumstances “ministers from the devolved administrations may be invited to attend meetings”.

There are other forums in which ministers from the UK and devolved governments can meet, but as we have previously reported they have been widely criticised.