NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of double standards by the Conservative leadership, which has dismissed her proposal of a "double majority" on any EU referendum vote and made clear that, if the Tories won power on May 7, there would be a single UKwide vote.

The First Minister has argued that there should be a "democratic safeguard" in any future EU referendum, so that if England voted for the UK to leave, then this should only happen if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland agreed. If any one of other three parts of what she called "the family of nations" voted for the UK to stay in the Brussels bloc, then it should do so.

"I will be pressing that case in order to make sure that no part of the UK could be taken out of the EU against its will," she recently argued.

But Grant Shapps, the Tory Chairman, at a campaign event in London, dismissed the SNP leader's proposal, saying: "Nicola Sturgeon is very keen on this double-lock situation where Scotland would also have to vote for leaving the EU with England.

"I didn't hear her make that same argument about the Scottish referendum, did you? I never heard her say Scotland could have independence but only if England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted the same way."

Stressing how he "did not buy" the Nationalist argument, Mr Shapps added: "We are a United Kingdom. There are reserved powers. They include international affairs. It's absolutely right there should be a single vote, which is exactly what will happen by the end of 2017, if the Conservatives win this election."