NICOLA Sturgeon has launched the SNP’s European election campaign with an emphatic demand to stop Brexit, despite a third of her party’s supporters voting Leave.

The First Ministers also urged voters to “end a message to Theresa May” that Scotland had had had enough of being ignored.

“Vote SNP to stop Brexit,” she told party members at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburg.

The SNP leader said the May 23 poll was “by far the most important European election in Scotland’s history.”

She said: “At stake in this election is not just which parties and which candidates will be elected to the European Parliament.

“At stake also is whether Scotland can remain inside the European Union at all.

“By voting SNP, people in Scotland can send a clear and unequivocal message to Theresa May. That message is this: Scotland has had enough of being ignored.”

Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s grievance-laden speech is yet further evidence of her real priority – not to come up with a sensible plan to deliver Brexit, but to use Brexit to push her only priority, another referendum on independence.

“These elections on May 23rd are our chance to say no to Nicola Sturgeon and no to any more referendums – whether on independence or the European Union.

“The choice is clear: Nicola Sturgeon has never met a referendum result she opposes.

“Our position is to respect the results of the referendum and get on with delivering a deal that backs our fishermen and our businesses, so we can all move on.”

Earlier, Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie launched his European campaign with the aim of regaining the MEP his party lost in 2014 because of its coalition with the Tories.

Arguing for a People’s Vote, he said: “People are fed up with Brexit. It has caused division in our country and damaged our economy. Voters now have the chance to make that stop by voting for the Liberal Democrats on 23rd May.

"A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a positive vote to solve these problems, prove the UK is an outward looking country and remain in the EU.”

At the last EU elections, the SNP and Labour each won two of the six seats in Scotland, and the Tories and Ukip won one each.

The launches took place as around 750,000 postal ballot packs arrived with Scottish voters, around one in five of the electorate.