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Ruth Davidson, Scottish Conservative leader, has said the SNP should cooperate with Westminster Getty

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon must end her "megaphone diplomacy" and co-operate more with Westminster over Brexit, Ruth Davidson has said.

The Scottish Conservative leader issued the demand to the First Minister of Scotland as she addressed a fringe event at the Tory Party conference in Birmingham today (2 October).

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Davidson, who commands the second largest party in Holyrood, was given a standing ovation before and after her speech at the Hyatt Hotel.

"I say to the first minister, please, we've had enough of this megaphone diplomacy. Instead of picking fights with the UK government, why not just pick up the phone a bit more often? Who knows, you might just actually find you agree about some things," she said.

"For our Scottish government, the starting point shouldn't be how best to engineer a political turf war between London and Edinburgh, the starting point should be to examine the interests of our key industries, universities and rural areas and work out how to protect and promote those interests. The best way to secure that is through joint cooperation."

The comments come after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Sturgeon will not have a veto on the UK's split from the EU.

Sturgeon, May and Davidson all campaigned for Remain during the referendum, with Scotland voting to stay in the political and economic union.

Davidson was forced to stressed this afternoon that she has "confidence" in May's Brexit team, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who she clashed with ahead of the historic vote.

The Scottish Conservative leader wants the UK to secure access to the EU's single-market, which puts her at odds with "hard Brexit" backing Tories who want immigration controls.

EU chiefs, such as European Parliament President Martin Schulz, have ruled out giving Britain "single market a la carte". May revealed today that she would trigger Article 50, the official mechanism to split from the EU, before the March 2017.

The move is expected to be followed by two years' worth of talks, with a Brexit in 2019. Former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, a Leave campaigner, told IBTimes UK this morning that he was "very pleased" with the decision.

But the move could create complications for Brexit Secretary David Davis, since France and Germany are holding general elections in 2017.

The SNP had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

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