Pro and anti-EU champions are turning their fire on the SNP as the campaign to win over Scots voters heats up.
The Nationalists’ former deputy leader Jim Sillars has accused Nicola Sturgeon’s party of living in a “parallel universe” by advocating the “glaring contradiction” of independence in 2014 versus Remaining in the EU this June.
The ex-MP used a speech in Orkney to call on Yes voters in the referendum to act “in the interests of their country (and) not a single party” by voting to Leave.
Meanwhile, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie will today accuse the SNP of “taking for granted” that voters will back the Remain campaign north of the border.
In a speech in Fife, he will blast Ms Sturgeon for making a “sloppy assumption” that Scots are more Europhile than their compatriots elsewhere.
Polling has consistently suggested that Scots are likely to overwhelmingly back staying with Brussels on June 23.
The SNP said being in the EU is “good for Scotland” – and accused Mr Rennie of “attacking the SNP over everything and anything”.
Speaking in Kirkwall last night, Mr Sillars said: “Yes voters must now think and act, in the interests of their country not a single political party. There is a glaring contradiction at the heart of official SNP policy on Europe.
“If being in a United Kingdom of 60 million people, where we have direct representation does not give Scotland the sovereignty it needs, in what parallel universe does the SNP leadership see Scotland’s interests being advanced in a 28-member state Union of 500 million people?
“If independence from the British Union was to our advantage in 2014, then independence from the European Union is certainly to our advantage in 2016.
“The contradiction of the SNP urging a vote for freedom in 2014 and a vote for restriction and limitation in 2016 cannot stand.”
Mr Sillars is one of the most prominent Scottish politicians to back a Leave vote, while several new Tory MSPs are also expected to urge Scots to quite the EU.
In a speech to his constituents in Fife today, Mr Rennie will suggest his party is “pro-European because we are internationalist in outlook”.
He will add: “The SNP has refused to join any other campaign yet have daily opinions about how the official In campaign is operating.
“And when the SNP are not criticising the official campaign they are postulating about the consequences of a Brexit for Scottish independence.
“The SNP should ditch the criticism and the self-interested commentary. Instead they should work with other pro-Europeans to win the case for remain.
“The SNP seem to take for granted that Scotland will vote radically different from England and that a big Scottish remain vote is guaranteed.
“That sloppy assumption misunderstands the complex range of views that exists in Scotland about Europe.
“If the SNP continue to behave as they are they could risk a growth in the leave vote.”
But a spokesman for the Nationalists said: “Being part of Europe is good for Scotland, in terms of jobs, prosperity and security.
“And an independent Scotland would have a seat and a voice at the EU’s top table – something we are currently denied.
“Independence and interdependence go hand in hand in the 21st century, as proven by the fact that many of the EU’s member states are smaller than Scotland and many have only become independent in recent decades.
“As for Willie Rennie, he needs to make up his mind quickly what his top priority is – attacking the SNP over everything and anything, or joining our efforts to keep Scotland in Europe.”
