An SNP representative met the company at the centre of the scandal involving the unauthorised use of Facebook data to influence elections, party leaders have admitted.

SNP managers confirmed that a meeting had taken place between an individual representing the party and managers at Cambridge Analytica. An SNP spokesman said that no work was commissioned because the Cambridge Analytica team appeared to be “a bunch of cowboys”.

Opposition politicians seized on the revelation to accuse SNP leaders of “utter hypocrisy”, saying that they had been quick to condemn links between the company and other parties, without revealing that they had conducted meetings themselves.

It is alleged that Cambridge Analytica used personal data from Facebook to try to influence elections in the UK, the US and