The leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon said the UK cannot leave the European Union as the result of a referendum, unless each nation returns a majority vote in the proposed referendum on membership.

Sturgeon said in an interview with BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland, that if a referendum bill was proposed in the Commons, the SNP would table an amendment requiring that for the UK to leave the EU, it would need "not just a majority across the whole UK but a majority in each one of the four nations - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland".

"If you look at states like Australia and Canada there are some circumstances where changes to their constitution requires not just a majority across the country but in each of the provinces as well.

"The UK is not a unitary state it is a family of nations, it is made up of the four home nations.

"We were told during the referendum that each of these nations had equal status, that our voices mattered.

"If that is the case I think it is right that something that would have such significant consequences for jobs, for the economy, for our standing in the world, it should require the consent of not just the UK as a whole but that family of nations."

UKIP MEP for Scotland David Coburn dismissed the idea as “ridiculous”.

"Our country is Great Britain. I don't hold a Scottish passport I hold a British passport.

"We are one country. That was decided once and for all at the referendum.

"What part of no does she [Nicola Sturgeon] not get? No, neigh, naw. We are all British voters. That was decided at the referendum."