CONSTRUCTIVE and cordial were the words Nicola Sturgeon used to describe her first meeting with Theresa May since March.

The 45 minutes of talks appeared to have been carried out in a more positive mood than their encounter in Glasgow six months ago, when the atmosphere was glacial.

“This is a woman who sits in meetings where it’s just the two of you and reads from a script,” the First Minister later recalled of a meeting with the Prime Minister.

And who can forget the photograph of the two politicians sitting in a bare and prosaic-looking office in March and staring unsmilingly at the camera?

But speaking to journalists outside Downing Street last night, the First Minister indicated there was perhaps now more warmth in the relationship as she conveyed a wish to reach some consensus with the Prime Minister over the EU Withdrawal Bill.

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“While we didn’t reach agreement, I think we developed a better understanding of each other’s positions,” she said.

“I made clear that the Scottish Government wants to find agreement on the Withdrawal Bill. We oppose Brexit but we understand withdrawal legislation is necessary, so we want to find agreement.

“But I also made clear what our bottom lines are on that bill. Discussions will continue and hopefully we can reach some points of agreement in the weeks to come.”

Sturgeon went on to criticise May’s decision to add the date and time of Brexit to the Withdrawal Bill.

“I don’t think it is a sensible move to put the date of exit in legislation,” said the First Minister.

“I think looking at how this process has unfolded over the past few months, the lesson of all of it should be not to back the UK further and further into a corner – and it strikes me that a move like that is narrowing room for manoeuvre and flexibility and at this stage of negotiations, I don’t think that is the right thing to do.”

The relationship between the First Minister and Prime Minister may have been aided by the joint challenge they face in tackling the sexual harassment scandal that has rocked rocked both their parties and governments. Along with Brexit, the issue was discussed by them yesterday.

Asked about sexual harassment, Sturgeon: “We discussed that at some length, we shared our experiences in terms of what the different parties are doing to try to put the right procedures in place, what our two parliaments are doing, agreed that it would be useful for parliaments and indeed the governments to keep in dialogue about that. But we also agreed – and for me, this is the most important aspect of this as well – [that while] having robust procedures in place is important, it’s the underlying culture of sexual harassment that has to change, and that I think is what we all hope will come out of the experiences of the last few weeks.”