Nicola Sturgeon should persuade Donald Trump to deny the Prime Minister a trade deal unless she shows Scotland more respect, says a former SNP leader.
Gordon Wilson has urged the First Minister to put her grievances with the US President aside and encourage him to intervene in Number 10’s handling of Brexit.
The former Dundee East MP said Ms Sturgeon should harness Mr Trump’s affections for Scotland so that any UK-US trade deal would be dependent on Holyrood having more of a say on Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
In a letter to the SNP leader, Mr Wilson, who led the party for 11 years, said: “American presidents have intervened in internal UK politics frequently in the past from President Bill Clinton in the Northern Ireland peace process to President Obama on the issues of Scottish independence and Europe.
“It is therefore not unreasonable for you as head of the Scottish Government to ask President Trump to make it a condition of any intended trade deal with the UK that the outcome of the Brexit negotiations should be fair to all parts of the UK, rather than solely suit the interests of England, the majority nation in the UK comity of nations.”
Theresa May was in the US on Friday to meet Mr Trump, whose late mother was from the Isle of Lewis.
High on the agenda was a post-Brexit arrangement with the US to foster freer trade.
Mr Trump, who has talked up the prospect of such a deal, has been a strong proponent of the UK leaving the EU.
A 62% majority in Scotland backed Remain in the June referendum, but the country faces being taken out of the 28-nation bloc on the strength of the Leave vote in England and Wales.
The Scottish Government has put forward proposals to protect Scotland’s EU status, which includes a tailored deal north of the border in which Scotland stays part of the single market when the rest of the UK departs.
Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly said that independence could offer the best way to respect the EU vote in Scotland and that a re-run of the 2014 referendum is “highly likely”.
A spokesman for Brexit Secretary Michael Russell said: “It is quite true to say that the Tories, with just one MP out of 59 in Scotland, have no mandate for the catastrophic hard Brexit they are pursuing – but they now think they can do what they want to Scotland and get away with it.
“However, the Scottish Government will continue to pursue every possible option to keep our place in the European single market, which is around eight times bigger than the UK’s alone, and is essential for jobs, investment and the economy.”