ALEX Salmond has led an SNP delegation to Norway to hold informal talks with the country’s political leaders as its Foreign Minister warned Theresa May there is no “silver bullet” for Brexit.

The former First Minister was joined by fellow MPs Joanna Cherry and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh in Oslo, where they met Elsbeth Tronstad, State Secretary for the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as opposition politicians.

Along with Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland, Norway is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which gives them membership of the EEA, where they can be members of the single market while not in the European Union.

It pays into the EU, allowing it to trade tariff-free with the 28 countries in the bloc, but to do so it must comply with the free movement of people, capital and services.

A source close to Salmond told The National the talks followed on from earlier visits to the three other EFTA countries and that the delegation was warmly received.

“Everyone is very well aware that Scotland voted to remain in the EU," the source said. "We are getting the message across that Scotland wants the UK to remain a member of the single market. And if that is not achievable then Scotland wants to continue its relationship with Europe. These high-level meetings have gone well.”

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, who was meeting Cabinet Brexiteers Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox yesterday, said his country’s model was seen as a success but that while it worked for Norway it might not work for the UK, pointing out the nation had to implement EU rules while not having influence over shaping them.

“We were very clear that there is no silver bullet in this context,” he said in a radio interview. “Being a part of the single market, as we are, also means to implement all directives, and we are not in the room when these directives are decided on.

“But there has been a consensus around this in Norway that it is in our interest to be a part of the single market, and that is what we have to contribute. On top of this we also do funding for countries in the EU that are the new members, but also those that are facing the biggest challenges when it comes to development.”

He was also asked on Radio Four’s Today programme if the single market choice facing the UK was the same. He replied that Norway’s membership of the single market since 1992 “had served our country well”, with 70 per cent of its exports going to the EU.

He rejected reports that Norway would resist the UK joining EFTA.

“If Britain chose to go through an EEA agreement, being a full member of the single market, taking all the directives, contributing to the EU, we have to assess such an interest,” he said. “But so far, I think, your prime minister, Theresa May, has said you’re working along different lines.”

There has been increased speculation about whether the UK Government might consider paying to secure membership of the single market.

Brexit Secretary Davis last week told the Commons the Government would “not rule out” paying the EU to remain in the single market, with the idea later backed by Chancellor Philip Hammond and by Downing Street. However, over the weekend Foreign Secretary Johnson appeared at odds with the move, taking to Sunday political programmes to say no “large sums” would be paid in return for tariff-free trading rights.

Johnson, a leading figure in the Vote Leave campaign that suggested Brexit would result in an extra £350m a week available to be spent on the NHS, tried to play down the idea on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“That is obviously something David Davis is considering but it doesn’t mean a decision has been taken … I am not going to get involved in the minutiae of our negotiating position before we trigger Article 50,” he said.