Inside Politics: Cordial dinners

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Happy Friday – you made it. Rishi Sunak is out and about in Scotland and there is some slightly good news to end the week. Have a good weekend.

Parliament is not sitting.

Peter Kyle, shadow Northern Ireland secretary, is on Times Radio at 8.35am.

Andrea Leadsom, former cabinet minister, was on the Today programme at 8.10am.

It was all smiles and niceties in Inverness last night as Rishi Sunak met Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, following a series of engagements by the prime minister north of the border. The two leaders opted for a private dinner at a hotel rather than a public news conference and discussed the NHS, the economy and Scotland’s controversial bill allowing people to change their gender more easily.

Sunak has taken a much more diplomatic approach to relations with Scotland since entering No 10, compared with his predecessor, Liz Truss, who during her successful bid for the Tory Party leadership in the summer said Sturgeon was an attention seeker who was best ignored (some things don’t age well at all, do they?) – comments that were described as both unbecoming of a future prime minister and likely to drive up support for independence.

Although the dinner was described as “cordial”, Sunak and Sturgeon were said to have had a “robust” exchange on Scottish independence – a policy area that will remain near the top of the PM’s in-tray as the SNP continues pushing for another referendum despite a recent supreme court ruling confirming that the power for such constitutional matters lies with the government in London, which says another poll is out of the question. That decision appears to have given the ‘yes’ campaign a bounce in the polls, with a number of recent surveys giving it a lead over ‘no’.

Sunak’s visit to Scotland continues today and he will announce two new ‘green’ freeports, although it’s understood he won’t be joined by Sturgeon. It might be bad for the SNP leader’s street cred to be seen out and about with Sunak. Sturgeon, on the broadcast round earlier, described last night’s talks as “perfectly constructive and cordial” and said that while she and Sunak disagreed on a lot, there would be areas where they can work together.

“Clearly Rishi Sunak and I disagree on lots, but we were able to talk about some of the areas where the Scottish and UK governments can work together,” she told BBC Good Morning Scotland. “Obviously, we talked a bit about the NHS and the pressures people are living under right now. We talked about how we can work together to realise the vast renewable energy potential that Scotland has.” Sunak, meanwhile, speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, said he is is “concerned” about the impact of Holyrood’s gender recognition laws across the UK.

Today’s announcement on freeports comes following a review of the government’s net zero plans by senior Tory MP Chris Skidmore, which warns the UK will fail unless it takes a “new approach” to green targets.

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Since it is Friday here is some (slightly) good news to end the week: the UK economy unexpectedly grew in November and reduced the risk of the country entering a recession, according to official figures.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded an increase of 0.1 per cent as the services sector remained in growth despite the soaring cost of living.

Experts at the ONS said the slight rise was supported by the technology sector and a strong showing by pubs and bars amid a boost from the winter World Cup in Qatar.

It nevertheless represented a slowdown in growth after GDP increased by 0.5 per cent in October. Analysts had predicted the economy would shrink by 0.3 per cent for November.

See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here

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Sunak’s official spokesman on threat of Tory rebellion on Online Safety Bill.

“Our aim is to hold to account social media platforms for harmful content while also ensuring the UK remains a great place to invest and grow a tech business. We are confident we can achieve both of these things. We will carefully consider all the proposed amendments to the Online Safety Bill and set out its position when report stage continues.”

Joe Pike, Sky News politics correspondent, hears whispers of a deal between Sunak and Johnson.

“NEW: Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak could strike a deal to avoid a leadership challenge, allies of the former PM claim.”

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