Theresa May rejected calls to apologise after she was accused of risking the break-up of the United Kingdom with her attitude towards the European Union.

Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh, hit out at the Prime Minister’s position on the EU’s Single Market.

At the weekend Mrs May appeared to indicate that the UK would leave the Single Market to control immigration after Brexit.

Agenda: Brexit poses an increasing threat to human rights in this country

In her first interview of 2017, she told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "Often people talk in terms as if somehow we are leaving the EU but we still want to kind of keep bits of membership of the EU. We are leaving. So the question is what is the right relationship for the UK to have with the European Union when we are outside?

"We will be able to have control of our borders, control of our laws.

"This is what people were voting for on June 23."

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Murray told Mrs May that her attitude towards the Single Market was imperilling jobs north of the Border and that her “government is as big a threat to the Union as the SNP.”

He also asked her to “apologise for threatening the Union and give a solemn promise to every person in this country that no-one will be a penny worse off after a Tory Brexit”.

Mrs May declined to apologise and hit back that her government was “ambitious for the opportunities that are available” after the UK leaves the EU.
Earlier this week Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said that she wanted the UK to have the "largest amount of access" to the Single Market, a position she said she shared with Mrs May.

Agenda: Brexit poses an increasing threat to human rights in this country

After PMQs Mr Murray reiterated his call for Mrs May to apologise for what he said were the reckless actions of the Tories.

Mr Murray, his party’s Westminster spokesman, said:"Theresa May’s blind trust in a hard Brexit is identical to the SNP’s blind faith in independence – but both will be bad for jobs and the economy.

“The fact is that at every turn since the 2014 referendum, the Tories have put the future of the UK at risk - from the constitutional wrecking ball of English Votes for English Laws and two divisive election campaigns, to the reckless Brexit gamble.

Letters: Time to accept the EU is not a better prospect than the UK

“Theresa May should apologise to Scots for gambling with the UK’s future. Scots who voted both Yes and No want to move on from arguments of the past, but instead Theresa May has created the divisions the SNP thrives on and allowed Nicola Sturgeon to restart her campaign for independence.

“Only Scottish Labour stands for what the majority of Scots want – a strong Scottish Parliament in the UK with a close relationship with Europe.”

Earlier at PMQs the Conservative leader accused the SNP of wanting “to leave the UK and therefore leave the EU” in an answer to MP Chris Law.