Scotland has "no veto" over whether the UK leaves the European Union or not, Ruth Davidson has said.
At a packed-out fringe event on the first day of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, the Scottish Conservative leader challenged the SNP to ensure Scotland comes out of Brexit "stronger and more prosperous" rather than using it to angle for a second referendum on independence.
Asked whether the Scottish government could block the activation of Article 50, Davidson said no such power exists. The Scottish government's minister for Brexit, Mike Russell, suggested Scotland could issue a veto on Sunday Politics Scotland earlier in the day.
"I’ve had many tragedies in my life and one of them was not being able to catch Mike Russell’s interview," said Davidson. "But I think there is an acceptance that this was a UK-wide vote. The UK was the member state. There is no veto for the devolved administrations in this.
"We’ve already heard part of the process this morning from the prime minister in terms of the repeal bill. There are 56, 54, by this afternoon maybe 53 SNP MPs in the House of Commons and I’m sure you’ll ask them that question too on how they expect to respond to that."
Asked by BuzzFeed News if the vote to leave the EU had strengthened or weakened the case for Scottish independence, Davidson said the SNP will find making the economic case for leaving the UK much more difficult post-Brexit.
"We’re at a time in the world where the economics don’t always win the political arguments, but I think we’d win the political argument and we’d definitely win the economic argument when it comes to staying part of the United Kingdom," Davidson replied.
The Scottish Conservatives leader also said she is aiming to be first minister at the end of her "ten-year plan" by 2021, saying: "Anybody would be in the wrong job if they were leading a political party in a legislator and they did not wish to be the party of government in that legislator."
She added: "We’ve been sitting in the Scottish parliament since 1999 and I don’t think at any point in that time have we looked like an alternative party of government.
"I want us in five years time to absolutely look like an alternative party of government, and an attractive one at that. That’s the job I’m applying my team to, myself to, and that’s the task that we face and we will do it."
Davidson will deliver her keynote speech to conference on Wednesday, immediately before prime minister Theresa May.