Scottish Conservative Leader Ruth Davidson has warned the incoming Westminster regime not to treat Scotland as a “bolt-on part”.
She welcomed prime minister-in-waiting Theresa May’s pledge to defend the Union as a “major priority”.
But she insisted the new PM would need to be “really on the ball” in making sure the devolved administrations are involved in the decision-making process “at a very early stage”.
If the Union is to survive, she added, Scotland must to be “integral” to all the UK Government does.
The Edinburgh Central MSP was in London yesterday to meet both David Cameron and his successor.
Addressing journalists afterwards, she spoke of the “overwhelming sense of sadness” she felt upon watching Mr Cameron’s resignation speech the day after the EU referendum.
She added: “Here was somebody with this fantastic talent that was standing down.
“Sometimes the independence referendum felt a bit like you were in the trenches. I’d rather have had him in the trenches with me than not.”
Asked how safe the Union would be under a May premiership, Ms Davidson said Scotland could not be seen as an “add-on” to the UK Government.
She said: “You need to have somebody thinking at an early stage about how things affect Scotland and what happens and what feed-in they can have.
“I think the next government has to really be on the ball about making sure the devolved administrations are part of the process or at least thought of in the process at a very early stage.”
Asked what guidance she had offered to Mrs May in relation to succeeding in Scotland, she replied: “My advice was reach out in good faith, work positively, constructively, play it – as Theresa always does – with a straight bat.
“Get involved early and make sure we build a comprehensive framework for the way in which the UK and Scottish Governments interact with each other.
“There is, I believe, a relationship that can be built there and I want to see it built for the people of Scotland because they need both their governments to work together.”
Ms Davidson also used her speech to reject calls for a second independence referendum, adding: “The truth is Brexit has weakened the case for breaking up Britain.
“To me it doesn’t make sense, it’s like saying the only response to shooting yourself in the foot is to then amputate your leg.”
But she also insisted the case for the Union could not simply be made “on the basis that the case for independence has failed and will always continue to fail”.
She added: “I believe we must make a positive case for the Union as well. Following the Brexit vote it is clear that is now more necessary than ever.
“I believe it is vital we do more to show why our union of nations is right and why it can work and work for all of us.
“Scotland cannot be a bolt-on part of the UK Government. If we want to keep the Union together it must be integral to all it does.”
Ms Davidson did not rule out a second EU referendum two or three years down the line under a different set of circumstances.
But she continued: “I think you ignore 17 million people at your peril … I think it would be highly unlikely.”
Asked what Brexit should look like, she insisted access to the single market be maintained.
She also reiterated her call for EU migrants living in the UK to be assured “pretty quick” that they can stay.
Ms Davidson said: “It’s not enough to say to people who have come here and made their home here and have made their life here that we want your labour.
“We have got also to be able to say we want your brains, your culture, your passion, we want you, in our country, making our country work and making it better.”
