No 10 dismisses SNP's complaint that PM is not taking Scotland's priorities in Brexit process seriously

He said: “We need much more than lip service...The imagery of the UK Government thinking that installing a 1980s-style Cold War hotline, which rings but isn’t answered, shows how far away they are from where we need to be...There is little to no sign of a serious intent by the UK Government to take Scottish priorities seriously. That disappoints me.”

He added: “Sometimes it feels as though one is shouting into a black hole and there is very little sign that UK Government ministers realise the seriousness with which we take this. I regularly hear senior UK Government sources suggesting that there is an element of bluff[about calling a second independence referendum] involved in this process. There is none.”

But No 10 hit back when asked about Mr Robertson’s claim that the SNP administration has been cold-shouldered by Whitehall. The PM’s spokeswoman said: “I wouldn’t accept that. The PM chaired a recent meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee, established a specific sub-group of that to talk about Brexit and to make sure we are hearing the views of the devolved administrations.”

She added: “We are also clear this was a decision put to the British people. They made a decision and it’s important we respect that and get on with delivering the outcome.”

Nicola Sturgeon is due to publish her options paper in a bid to maintain single market membership for Scotland in the next two weeks. The next JMC plenary session, at which both the First Minister and Mrs May will be in attendance, is due in late January.

Today, the PM hosts the first UK-Poland summit in Downing Street.

Beata Szydlo, the Polish premier, made clear her country would engage in the Brexit negotiations in a “constructive and down-to-earth manner”.

But she made clear that millions of Britons living in Europe and millions of Europeans living in the UK “should not be made to feel like hostages” in the process and said each should have guarantees not only on residence but also on the “proper co-ordination of social security systems”.

Mrs May spokeswoman responded by saying: “As we leave the EU there will be a whole range of issues to address and settle. Clearly, access to the welfare system will be one of those issues that needs to be looked at. What you do see from both the PM and the Polish PM is a desire to provide reciprocity to British and Polish citizens and other citizens in Europe and to work together on that.

“That was something they spoke about during the PM’s visit to Warsaw in July and where we are keen to provide certainty for people,” she added.

As the UK Government prepares for its appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a previous ruling that MPs should have a vote before Mrs May produces her Brexit negotiating strategy, her spokeswoman also dismissed the prospect of a second court challenge.

Lawyers for campaign group British Influence argue that uncertainty over the UK's European Economic Area[EEA] membership means Government ministers could be stopped from taking Britain out of the European single market.

Their argument is that Britain’s departure from the EEA would not be automatic and would happen only if it formally withdrew by triggering Article 127 of the EEA agreement.

However, the PM’s spokeswoman said: “The UK is only party to the EEA agreement in its capacity as an EU member state and once we leave the EU we will automatically cease to be a member of the EEA. That’s the legal framework.”

She pointed out how Article 126, which was the first paragraph on EEA membership, stated that it applied to those territories to which the treaty establishing the European Economic Community applied and under the conditions laid down in that treaty.

“Clearly, if you are leaving the EU, you are coming out of that,” insisted the spokeswoman.