Nicola Sturgeon says Liz Truss hasn't contacted her since becoming Prime Minister

Nicola Sturgeon has said that Liz Truss has not yet contacted her, despite having been elected as Prime Minister more than a month ago.

The First Minister described it as “unprecedented”, having spoken early on with all three prime ministers since being appointed to her position in 2015.

David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson have all served as Prime Minister of the UK since then.

During the Conservative leadership contest, Truss suggested that the best thing to do with the First Minister would be to “ignore her” and branded her an “attention-seeker”.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, the SNP leader indicated that the “ball is in her court”, referring to Truss’ decision to contact her.

“She’s the fourth prime minister I’ve worked with since I’ve been First Minister,” said Sturgeon.

“I’ve sought to have a constructive relationship with all of them, notwithstanding the very, very deep political differences that we have.

“I’ll do the same with Liz Truss. I’ve not yet had a phone call with her, which is actually unprecedented.

“I had early phone calls with all of the other prime ministers in my time as First Minister.

“I hope we will meet soon, but the ball is in her court. I had a very quick exchange with her during some of the services for Her Majesty the Queen after her sad death.

“But, I will do my best to be constructive in that relationship.”

Asked if she was surprised that Truss had not called her since becoming the Prime Minister, Sturgeon reflected on the remarks made by Truss during the Conservative leadership contest.

She also indicated that the Prime Minister has “a lot to learn” from her first few weeks in office.

“It’s not just me, to the best of my knowledge, the same is true for the First Minister of Wales (Mark Drakeford), we met in Edinburgh just last week or the week before, and that was certainly the case for both of us then,” she said.

“Am I surprised? In one sense, no, because this is the politician who when she was in the contest to be prime minister talked about ignoring me and said other things about devolved administrations.

“So, she clearly doesn’t have a lot of respect there. In another sense, yes I am surprised because I’ve worked with David Cameron, I’ve worked with Theresa May, I’ve worked with Boris Johnson – political differences with all of them, all brought different styles to that job.

“I spoke to all of them in the early days of that relationship and from there on.

“So, yes, it is surprising. Is it arrogance, is it lack of respect, is it insecurity?

“Only she can answer that, but I think in all senses of how she does this job, I think there is a lot for her to learn from her first few weeks.

“And I say that with a degree of humility. Every one of us in positions like this have to learn every day, we make mistakes, we get things wrong.

“But, I don’t think there’s been a prime minister, certainly not in my lifetime, who has got so many things so catastrophically wrong in such a short space of time.

“And of course it’s people the length and breadth of the UK who are paying the price for that.”

The First Minister warned that there could be “lasting damage” caused to the UK economy by the actions taken by the UK Government as she criticised Truss’ time so far in office.

She said: “It has been utterly catastrophic. The decisions that she and her chancellor have taken sunk the pound, brought pension funds to the brink of collapse, have crashed the mortgage market – you know, mortgages withdrawn from the market, put back at exorbitantly high rates.

“This has been absolutely devastating for mortgage payers, for people paying further debt, for those already struggling with the cost of living.

“This Government, this UK Government, is doing real and I fear lasting damage to the UK economy and to the very fabric of UK society.

“We’re now told there’s further austerity cuts coming and they can’t even give a commitment not to erode the incomes of those on benefits, in other words, those at the very lowest end of the income spectrum.”

She added: “Of course, nobody voted for the direction that Liz Truss has taken but that’s particularly true in Scotland.

“We never vote Tory, we haven’t voted Tory in my lifetime and yet all of these policies, including if we go back a bit further.”