Tony Blair says Scotland will leave UK if Britain votes for Brexit

The former Labour Prime Minister is "very worried" about the upcoming referendum

Tony Blair was speaking to a French radio station (Getty/Chris Jackson)

Scotland will leave the UK if Britain votes to break away from European Union, Tony Blair has warned.

Speaking in French during an interview with France’s Europe 1 radio station, the former Labour Prime Minister said he was “very worried” about the forthcoming referendum and the prospect of Britain voting for Brexit.

He added: “There’s a little-mentioned aspect which is that, in my opinion: if the UK votes to leave Europe, Scotland would vote to leave the UK.”

The intervention from the former Prime Minister comes as the ballot paper which voters will be presented with was released in draft legislation on the government’s website.

Speculation is mounting that Downing Street has Thursday 23 June as a possible contender for the referendum date. First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday that holding a referendum in June would be a mistake, adding that it would be “disrespectful” as it would cut across the Scottish elections.

In January millionaire Ukip donor Arron Banks said there is “no chance” of Scotland leaving the UK if Britain votes to leave the European Union. Speaking at a debate in London, the founder of the Leave.EU campaign said: “There’s no chance of Scotland leaving, there’s no chance of Wales leaving. We’ve been a union for 300 years – they had their opportunity, they were at the peak of Scottish nationalism and they still didn’t do it.”