SCOTLAND will be a “crucial battleground” in the fight to stop Brexit at the general election, Michael Russell has said, as he announced a town hall tour of Scotland.

The SNP Brexit Secretary said he would echo the warning from outgoing EU Council President Donald Tusk that the UK would be “an outsider, a second-rate player” after Brexit.

The Argyll & Bute MSP said: “Over the next four weeks I will be holding town hall meetings to take our message to every corner of Scotland.

“With less than one month to go till polling day, Donald Tusk’s comments serves as a reminder of the danger of the Tory government’s reckless plans to drag Scotland out of the EU against our will - an outcome which we know will roll back on environmental rights, cost thousands of jobs, hit the economy, and harm people’s livelihoods.

“That is a price that the people of Scotland must not be forced to pay.”

He added: “With just 24 days to go till the general election only a vote for the SNP is a vote to escape Brexit, lock the Tories out of Downing Street, reject austerity, and put Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands. Scotland is a crucial battleground in this election and the battle to stop Brexit, and as Scotland’s party of remain the SNP is the number one challenger in every single Tory seat in Scotland.

“With Boris Johnson now in the pocket of Nigel Farage and Donald Trump it is all the more important that we stop the Tories in their tracks.”

“Only the SNP offers a real opportunity for Scotland to escape from Brexit once and for all and choose a better future as an independent European country – rather than the bleak and broken Westminster system that has time and time again failed Scotland.”