John Swinney has branded promises of more devolution in the event of Brexit as a “Tory con-trick”.
The deputy first minister urged Scottish voters to reject what he claimed was an attempted “right-wing takeover” sweetened with “hollow offers of more powers”.
His intervention came after SNP grandee and Leave campaigner Jim Sillars claimed there were no downsides to a Brexit vote.
Polls have suggested the race is neck and neck south of the border, while a survey published yesterday indicated plummeting support for a Remain vote in Scotland.
Mr Swinney said: “The only people who would be empowered by a Leave vote would be the extreme wing of the Tory party – people who most certainly do not have Scotland’s best interests at heart, and people who are determined to rip up the various workers’ rights and employment protections guaranteed by the EU.
“Indeed, the Leave campaign is led by the very same people who have, at every opportunity, resisted the transfer of powers to Scotland – so their hollow offers of more powers are nothing more than a Tory con-trick.”
The deputy first minister said the referendum was “extremely tight”, but he urged Scots to “reject this right-wing Tory takeover and vote to protect the substantial social and economic benefits we enjoy as part of the largest trading block in the world”.
Meanwhile former SNP deputy leader Mr Sillars attacked Nicola Sturgeon’s claims that a Brexit would lead to Scotland being hammered by an extreme right wing Conservative Government.
He said: “I’m saying this as someone who has been a member of the Scottish National Party since 1980 and who has admired the way she has conducted herself as first minister.
“I deeply regret that Nicola seems to have resorted to the tactic which she previously deplored and in doing so has fallen from her own high standard.
“She has deployed the whiplash of fear to drive people to vote for Remain by implying that a Brexit will bring a reformed Tory government into power which would destroy workers’ rights.”
Asked what he thought the downside of a Leave vote would be, he replied: “I don’t see any downside to Brexit.”
