Former defence secretary Liam Fox has urged voters to back leaving the European Union in June's referendum on UK membership.

Speaking at a fringe meeting of the Scottish Conservative party conference in Edinburgh, he said: "It's time for us to leave."

Mr Fox had earlier said that the relationship between Scotland and England would be strained if the former voted to stay and the latter to leave but insisted that there was no desire from politicians south of the border to end the United Kingdom as a result.