Nicola Sturgeon told Jeremy Corbyn to “give me a call” last night as she insisted she would always seek to work with “progressive people for progressive government”.
The first minister said the SNP would join forces with other parties in the House of Commons to halt David Cameron’s plans to scrap the Human Rights Act.
She described feeling optimistic that the “hugely backward step” could be prevented, saying it would be “one of the best possible defeats” to be inflicted on the prime minister.
In a wide-ranging interview with veteran journalist Sir Harold Evans, she also stressed that the campaign for Scottish independence was not about “ripping up” the “many things” that bind the UK together.
An independent Scotland would always be “the best of friends” with England, she told the Women in the World summit in London.
Asked whether she would consider going into a coalition with Labour, Ms Sturgeon said she was not sure Mr Corbyn’s party would be forming a government with anybody.
But she added: “Jeremy, give me a call.
“I said before the election if there wasn’t a Tory majority the SNP would work with Labour and other progressive parties to form an alternative government.
“Ed Miliband did not like that idea – I think if he had been much more positive about it, he might have done better.
“I will always seek to work with people of progressive opinion for progressive government. That is in the interests of people across the UK.”
Asked about independence, she said it was about getting economic and political powers for Scotland.
“It’s not about ripping up the other aspects of union between Scotland and the rest of the UK,” she added.
“There are many things that bind Scotland and the rest of the UK together that I would not want to see broken.
“An independent Scotland and an independent England, which would follow, would always be absolutely the best of friends.”
She inadvertently ruled out another independence referendum before 2020, saying: “I hope by the time we have another general election, the Daily Mail won’t be so badly informed as to describe me as the ‘most dangerous woman in Britain’.”
Ms Sturgeon also warned that true gender equality would never be achieved until domestic violence is eradicated.
The first minister, whose 50/50 cabinet is one of only three in the world, added that she hoped by the time her nine-year-old niece is her age she would not be fighting the same battles.