A Ukip Leave campaign poster depicting a queue of refugees with the tagline 'The EU has failed us all' has been branded 'disgusting' by Nicola Sturgeon.

Nigel Farage tweeted a picture of the Breaking Point poster, which also tells voters that the UK 'must break free of the EU and take back control of our borders', with the caption 'The EU has failed us all'.

The EU has failed us all. pic.twitter.com/Lb7txUghar — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 16, 2016

The poster was officially launched today.

However, the First Minister hit out at the tweet, replying 'This is disgusting'.

Read more: How Brexit could open up new constituency of support for independence among middle-class Scots

Ms Sturgeon's reply to Mr Farage's original tweet, which has received 224 retweets, has been retweeted 433 times.

Her reaction to the tweet has provoked a mixed reaction on Twitter.

@NicolaSturgeon @Nigel_Farage disgusting and seriously false. Scaremongering at its worst 😳 — 'Oor' Elle (@nellesapelle) June 16, 2016

@NicolaSturgeon Why? It's what's happening. Is the truth disgusting to you? Should we cover our eyes and ears? — Templeton Peck (@MrTempletonPeck) June 16, 2016

Read more: Michael Gove - Brexit offers the chance to take back control of our own borders

Social media users have also drawn comparisons between the poster and an image that appeared on 'Auschwitz: The Nazis and The Final Solution', a six-part BBC documentary.

However, Mr Farage has defended the poster and denied that the people shown, who were crossing between Croatia and Slovenia to a refugee camp, were desperately fleeing terror in Syria.

Dismissing suggestions that the poster was racist and exploited human misery, he insisted very few people who came into Europe last year would qualify as genuine refugees.

Islamic State (IS, also known as Isis) are exploiting the migrant crisis to flood the continent with terrorists, he claimed.

"This is a photograph, an accurate, un-doctored photograph, taken on October 15 last year following Angela Merkel's call in the summer and, frankly, if you believe, as I have always believed, that we should open our hearts to genuine refugees, that's one thing," Mr Farage said.

"But, frankly, as you can see from this picture, most of the people coming are young males and, yes, they may be coming from countries that are not in a very happy state, they may be coming from places that are poorer than us, but the EU has made a fundamental error that risks the security of everybody."

Told the people were refugees, he said: "You don't know that - they are coming from all over the world.

"If you get back to the Geneva Convention definition, you will find very few people that came into Europe last year would actually qualify as genuine refugees."

He added: "We have just had, in the last two weeks, the Dusseldorf bomb plot has been uncovered - a very, very worrying plan for mass attacks along the style of Paris or Brussels. All of those people came into Germany last year posing as refugees.

"When Isis say they will use the migrant crisis to flood the continent with their jihadi terrorists they probably mean it."

Earlier this week Ms Sturgeon and Alex Salmond clashed angrily with Michael Gove after he claimed that Holyrood would gain new powers over immigration if Britain left the EU.

Read more: SNP accuse Michael Gove of 'nonsense' over immigration

Joanna Cherry QC MP, the SNP Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson at Westminster, said: "This is a disgusting new low for the Leave campaigns and a depressing symbol of a referendum that has been dominated by Project Fear negativity and scaremongering.

"Instead of scapegoating migrants for the pressures on public services caused by Tory austerity we should call on the UK government to invest the funding needed.

"We should also recognise the huge benefits that migrants bring to the UK – including their contribution to tax revenues, the economy, and the work many of them do in our NHS and public services.

"Instead of dog whistle xenophobia and doing down freedom of movement in EU member states we should be celebrating the huge opportunities it provides for UK citizens to live, work, and travel abroad – opportunities that millions of UK citizens benefit from every year.

"The SNP takes a more sensible, measured and progressive position to the Tories, UKIP and Labour on these matters. We recognise the significant opportunities freedom of movement provides and the huge benefits that immigration brings. Where there are pressures on our services we realise the blame should be directed at the Tory government and its failed and deeply damaging austerity cuts.

"In the final week of the campaign the SNP’s focus will be to continue making the positive and progressive case for remaining in the EU, with the aim of encouraging voter turnout and winning this referendum."

Voters will go to the polls for the EU referendum on Thursday, June 23.