Rishi Sunak is set to have a face-to-face meeting with Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland on Thursday night, according to reports.
The Prime Minister is coming to Scotland as part of a two-day trip.
It is expected that he will use the visit to highlight the benefits of Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom as he seeks to counter Sturgeon’s push for independence. Details of the visit have not been confirmed.
The trip will reportedly be used to announce the go-ahead of new green freeports near Edinburgh and Inverness.
This will be Sunak's first visit to Scotland since becoming Prime Minister in October. He met Sturgeon at the British-Irish Council in Blackpool in November.
The pair also spoke on the phone shortly after Sunak was chosen as leader of the Conservative Party.
Sturgeon said that the pair had "profound disagreements" but that the meeting had been "cordial and constructive".
This marks a change in approach from Sunak's predecessor. Liz Truss vowed to "ignore" Sturgeon in her bid for the Conservative leadership and called the First Minister "an attention seeker".
The pair did not any formal talks during Truss' short stint as Prime Minister but they met briefly at a service following the Queen's death.
Sunak said he wants to work with the Scottish Government on the issue of the North Sea oil and gas industry at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
But he claimed Sturgeon’s Government “don’t want to support the Scottish energy industry and the 200,000 jobs that it produces”.
He was responding to SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who said Scotland’s membership of the UK union “simply doesn’t add up”.
Sunak said: “I’m keen to work with the Scottish Government to support the North Sea because it’s something that we’re all very proud
of in the UK.”
According to The Telegraph, the new freeports will be at Cromarty Firth, near Inverness, and on the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh.
The green freeports are aimed at boosting investment and growth through the use of tax incentives.
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