Angus Robertson's independence referendum claims are 'delusional', ex-MP claims

Angus Robertson's claim that a vote for Scottish independence would also be a vote to rejoin the EU have been called "arrogant" by a former Labour MP.

In an exclusive interview with Holyrood magazine, the constitution secretary said there would be no need for a post-independence vote on European Union membership.

He said "the referendum case will be for Scottish independence within the European Union as a member state".

Now Pamela Nash, chief executive of pro-union campaign Scotland in Union, has criticised the claim, stating: "The SNP's case for breaking up the UK is fanciful and so too are its arguments on the EU.

"These remarks by Angus Robertson will convince nobody and yet again expose an arrogance and delusion at the heart of SNP policy-making.

"The process of attempting to join the EU would be lengthy and expensive and would have no guarantee of success.

"The benefits of being part of the UK are far more considerable than the EU, and it would not be worth Scotland losing our current union for another, all at huge cost.

"While the nationalists tie themselves in knots over the constitution, the people of Scotland have far more pressing priorities.

"They want to see a Scottish Government that focuses on what they really care about, such as the NHS, education and the cost-of-living crisis."

Robertson told Holyrood: "Scotland, 50 years on from having joined the then-European Economic Community, has now endured two years of being outside the European Union, to the disbenefit of our public sector, our private sector and our relations with European neighbours and friends.

"I think it makes Scotland's choice very clear, which is it is either as an independent, sovereign European Union member state with the restoration of all of the rights of citizenship that go with the right to live, work, study, trade and much else besides, to restore that and to work with our friends elsewhere on these islands as equals, or signing up to a Brexit Britain led by the Tories, or with a now pro-Brexit Labour party."