THE Liberal Democrats' lead candidate in Scotland for the European elections has compared the SNP to Ukip as he said his is the only party that can give the public a voice on EU affairs.
George Lyon told the Scottish party's conference in Aberdeen the positive attitude of the LibDems to the community was in contrast with those of their rivals.
Mr Lyon appeared to echo Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who drew a partial comparison between Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage in his speech on Friday.
Rounding off the conference yesterday, Mr Lyon told delegates: "We achieve so much more when we work with those around us. Ukip and the SNP of course disagree with that point of view.
"They say that Britain and the EU are holding Scotland back. We say they are helping us to achieve more.
"Together in the UK we created the NHS, the state pension, the minimum wage and a proper safety net for those who are unable to work. As part of the European Union, the UK family helped create the biggest single economy in the world and in doing so we have bound together countries that had previously been riven with conflict and war."
He said being part of something bigger, such as Europe, gave the party the best chance of fulfilling its potential.
He claimed Mr Clegg, the LibDem leader, had made Ukip leader Nigel Farage "a little sweaty and uncomfortable last week" as he laid bare Ukip's bluff and bluster in a TV debate.
He cited: "Their claims on immigration, their claims on the cost of the EU, their claims on who really makes our laws, exposed as fantasy, not facts. As Nick said in the debate, being in is about jobs in Scotland and across the UK. Three million British jobs are linked to our being in the EU market, the biggest economy in the world.
"Putting even one of these jobs at risk by pulling up the drawbridge is one job too many."
Denying the SNP's claim EU entry could be negotiated by Scotland and achieved in 18 months, he said: "I am not sure what the French or Spanish is for 'Aye right'.
"But let me tell you, the shortest time it has taken any new member to join the EU since 1995 has been eight years and the Commission tell us that new member states would have to sign up to their rules on currency and borders to secure their entry to the EU club."
The SNP said legal opinion was on their side as Scotland would be the first country to negotiate entry from within.
They said: "The irony is that the Liberal Democrats are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Europhobic Ukip in both seeking a No vote in Scotland's referendum."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article