Humza Yousaf met the prime minister for the first time since he replaced Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland’s first minister has told the BBC he is “going to work towards meeting the deadline” to arrange an auditor to process the SNP’s accounts.
Humza Yousaf’s remarks came after the party’s Westminster leader acknowledged it could miss out on £1.2m in public funds if the 31 May deadline is missed.
Mr Yousaf was speaking after his first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since taking the role.
They discussed issues including the cost of living crisis and devolution.
Speaking to the BBC about finding a new auditor for the party, Mr Yousaf said: “It’ll be challenging. I won’t pretend otherwise.
“There is the ability to ask for an extension if required. We’re not in that space yet.”
Mr Yousaf and Mr Sunak met in the House of Commons earlier on Monday evening.
The Scottish government said Mr Yousaf raised concerns around “UK government attacks on devolution”.
It also said Mr Yousaf made clear that he expects Mr Sunak to “respect the democratic wishes of Scotland’s Parliament” by granting a Section 30 order, which would grant the power to hold a second independence referendum.
The first minister told the BBC they “got along fine” during the meeting in London.
He said: “Very helpfully, at the start of the meeting, he gave me a briefing on the situation in Sudan.
“I said any briefing we can get will be very helpful, given that there will be a number of Scots with family out there who will be deeply affected.
“On a personal level, he seemed perfectly affable enough.”
Image source, PA Media
Mr Sunak hosted the meeting in the House of Commons
The meeting took place amid a looming court battle. The Scottish government has announced plans to launch a legal challenge to Westminster’s block on its controversial gender reforms.
The proposals, which would allow people in Scotland to self-identify their sex, were passed by the Scottish Parliament in December last year.
But they were blocked by the UK government over their potential impact on UK-wide equality laws.
The first minister has previously said challenging the UK government’s block on the gender Bill was “our only means of defending our parliament’s democracy from the Westminster veto” but Mr Sunak said Westminster had taken “very careful and considered advice” on the issue before acting.
‘Work together’
The meeting also came after the Scottish government delayed the introduction of its deposit return scheme from August to March next year, in a move that circular economy minister Lorna Slater blamed on Westminster.
She said the delay was primarily due to the UK government not providing an exemption to the Internal Market Act, which was implemented after Britain left the European Union to regulate trade within the country.
Mr Yousaf added: “I did mention to the Prime Minister that where can work together collaboratively of course I would be keen to do that.
“And one way we could do that for example is in relation to the UK government granting an exemption to the internal market act for the deposit return scheme.”
They also discussed the cost-of-living crisis and rising energy bills as well as the Scotch whisky industry.
While the talks were their first in person since the SNP leader became Scotland’s first minister last month, it will not be their first conversation.
The pair spoke via telephone after Mr Yousaf was chosen by MSPs to be first minister on 28 March.
