Scottish nationalists should be nice to the English, says SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford

Scottish independence supporters should be nice to English people, a senior figure in the Scottish National Party has said.

Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the SNP, said that he had "zero tolerance" for anti-English sentiment, adding that "there is absolutely no place for it".

Last summer, Jim Sillars, who served as an SNP MP in the 1990s, claimed the party had a "manufactured grudge and grievance" agenda against Westminster that fuelled anti-Englishness and antagonised Unionist voters.

Mr Sillars said in a memoir: “I don't think we should exaggerate the undertone of anti-Englishness that exists in Scotland, but it is there and the grudge and grievance tactic of the SNP leadership does play to it and keeps it alive.”

However, in an interview with Chopper's Politics podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, Mr Blackford said: "I would never permit any existence of anti-English sentiment of any way, shape or form, whether it comes from anybody within the SNP or whether it comes from society in Scotland in a wider sense.

Asked if anti-Englishness was "like racism", Mr Blackford replied: "Yes. But one of the things I've tried to do over the course of the last few years of the Brexit [process] is to make the point that people are welcome in Scotland.

"And I want Scotland to be a success. We need people to come and come and visit and not just visit, come and come and live with us north of the border as well."

Mr Blackford claimed that many English people had joined the SNP to back the independence movement.

He said: "The SNP is a civic nationalist party. We have a thriving SNP branch [on Skye], an extremely high percentage of the people that are members of the SNP were not born in Scotland.

"They might be from England, they might be from other places, but it's about their future. They've chosen to live in Scotland. They're part of Scotland's story, part of Scotland's future. There is no place for anti-Englishness of any kind.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that she wants to hold a referendum on Scottish independence by the end of next year.

Mr Blackford said: "If we can get the legislation through the Scottish Parliament agreement on the referendum, as we did pre 2014 with the Edinburgh Agreement, there's no reason why that can't take place in 2023."

And Mr Blackford insisted that an independent Scotland would be able to use sterling before eventually rejoining the European Union.

"The guarantee that I can give to everybody in Scotland is the pound they have in their wallet will be the pound they have in their wallets the day after independence. That won't change."

He continued: "The principle of Scotland becoming a member of a European Union is one that I believe has a support right throughout the community."

Mr Blackford even speculated that an independent Scotland could use its position as a leading generator in wind energy would mean that an independent Scotland would have "to make sure that we keep the lights on in England".

Listen to Chopper's Politics, The Telegraph's weekly political podcast, using the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app.