NICOLA Sturgeon has accused the Scottish Tories of "selling out" and playing an "arrogant and foolish game” as the First Minister stepped up her accusations that the party has abandoned the pro-EU cause it campaigned on during the referendum

The Tories, she continued, “now think they can do whatever they want to Scotland, and the people of Scotland will simply sit back and take it", renewing her attack on Ruth Davidson's party.

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Writing today in the Sunday Herald Sturgeon also talked about a “lost generation of economic opportunity” as she issued a stark warning about the bleak outlook Scotland would face if it is dragged out of the single market, which allows access to good and services.

She attacked Davidson, claiming she had replaced the Scottish Tories pro-EU referendum position with a "meaningless Brexit sloganeering" that was indistinguishable from that of Theresa May's government at Westminster.

Sturgeon said the Scottish Tories now had to state "whose side they are on" as she challenged the party to back the Scottish Government's plans to retain Scotland’s place in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves.

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The SNP has demanded powers be devolved from Westminster to Holyrood to allow Scotland to remain in the single market, with responsibilities transferred over areas such as immigration, business regulation, and employment rights.

Sturgeon continued: "While the Tory Government at Westminster is gripped by the language and agenda of its hard-right anti-European faction, the Scottish Tories are now in full-scale sell-out mode. Gone is the rhetoric of protecting our place in the single market, to be replaced by meaningless Brexit sloganeering.

"The Scottish Tories have even taken to gleefully endorsing the views of anyone claiming that solutions designed to retain Scotland's place in Europe are unworkable or undeliverable. Indeed, the time has come for the Scottish Tories to answer the simple question of whose side they are on – the side of getting the best deal possible for Scotland or the side of those who want to prevent such a solution?

"Their language suggests the Tories now think they can do whatever they want to Scotland, and the people of Scotland will simply sit back and take it. If so, they are playing an arrogant and foolish game."

Sturgeon also set out what she warned would be the highly damaging economic consequences for Scotland if it was to be pulled out of the single market.

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She added: "I have spoken already about a lost decade in economic growth which leaving the EU and the single market would bring. In truth, we are possibly talking about a lost generation of economic opportunity if we do not secure our continued place in the world’s biggest single market.

"The stark statistics cannot be repeated often enough – analysis shows Scotland faces a cost to our economy of around £11 billion a year by 2030, while independent research suggests up to 80,000 Scots jobs lost over a decade, with average earnings per head falling £2,000 over the same period."

A spokesman for the Scottish Tories, in response, said: "The SNP ought to break the habit of a lifetime and respect the result of a referendum."