A former SNP MP who defected to the Conservative party says she has been forced into hiding due to violent threats.

Lisa Cameron said she has been threatened with being "bricked in the street" after she announced she was joining the Tory party on Thursday (October 12). 

Speaking to The Times, the MP said she had received a "torrent of abuse" in her email inbox and she and her family have had to take measures for their safety. 

Ms Cameron said she left the SNP, which she had represented since 2015, because of "toxic and bullying" treatment from her colleagues. 

She said she felt "isolated" within the party's group in Westminster after defending the teenage victim of Patrick Grady

Read more: Why Lisa Cameron quit the SNP for the Conservatives, explained

The MP made the bombshell announcement just hours before she was facing deselection in her East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow seat, which she was at risk of losing to the SNP's digital media manager Grant Costello. 

But day's before crossing the floor to join the unionist Conservatives, it emerged Ms Cameron said independence was a "top priority".

And she also criticised her now party leader Rishi Sunak's welfare policies, in a leaked video seen by the Herald. 

SNP president Mike Russell called Ms Cameron's desertion "absolutely bizarre", "ego driven" and a "tantrum"

The Herald: Lisa Cameron speaking in the House of CommonsLisa Cameron speaking in the House of Commons (Image: PA)

While Humza Yousaf called for her to stand down as an MP, calling her defection the "least surprising news I've had as leader of the SNP". 

He said: “To see somebody who claims to have supported Scottish independence cross the floor to the Conservative and Unionist Party betrays the fact that she probably never believed in the cause in the first place.”

The news is the latest upset in SNP just days ahead of the party's annual conference in Aberdeen. 

Mr Yousaf has called for party unity, warning that division will only lead to defeat at the ballot box.