A British vote to leave the EU risks the “dismemberment” of the UK, the Home Secretary has warned.
In a speech urging people to vote to remain tethered to Brussels on June 23, Theresa May claimed a leave result could be “fatal to the Union with Scotland”.
SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said at the weekend it was “highly likely” there would be a rerun of the independence referendum in the event of a so-called Brexit.
Ms May said: “Only a little more than eighteen months after the referendum that kept the United Kingdom together, I do not want to see the country I love at risk of dismemberment once more.
“I do not want the people of Scotland to think that English Eurosceptics put their dislike of Brussels ahead of our bond with Edinburgh and Glasgow. I do not want the European Union to cause the destruction of an older and much more precious Union, the Union between England and Scotland.”
Tom Harris, Scotland director for the Vote Leave campaign group, accused Ms May of resurrecting the so-called “Project Fear” tactics deployed by Better Together.
He said: “If she is resorting to scaremongering about the UK, she has not got a lot of confidence in her arguments for the EU.
“This referendum is about the EU, nothing else. It is not about Scottish independence, David Cameron, or anything else.
“I would certainly not be getting involved in this campaign if it would lead to Scottish independence and I don’t believe it will.”
