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Ukip’s reputation in Scotland has been shattered by an MEP branding Alex Salmond “racist”, according to its former chairman north of the border.

In a letter to The Courier, Mike Scott Hayward hit out at comments made by David Coburn during a debate at The Lansdowne Club in London.

Mr Coburn, who was elected in May, compared the Yes campaign to the “fascism of the 30s” as he criticised a raft of Scottish Government policies and claimed an independent Scotland would “make the DDR the Democratic Republic of Germany look positively benign”.

He added: “Salmond is not offering independence. He is offering rule from Brussels politically and rule from Frankfurt on the money side.

“He’s not interested in Scottish independence. This is an exercise in extreme socialist economics.

“If he was interested, why does he want to fill the country up with people from other nations except the English?

“Anybody can come to Scotland, unless you’re English. If that’s not racist, what is?”

In his letter, Mr Scott Hayward said: “I am appalled at reports that Coburn, a Ukip MEP, speaking in London, called the Scottish First Minister a racist, and I deplore the language and rhetoric used.”

He added: “Little wonder that Better Together are concerned the modus operandi of Ukip in Scotland.”

Mr Coburn stuck by his remarks when questioned by The Courier and claimed Mr Scott Hayward was bitter about no longer being party chairman.

He also said a planned visit by party leader Nigel Farage this week would help the pro-Union campaign.

He added: “When you look at the disaster Better Together has been, it’s high time we got stuck in.”

Glaswegian comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli, who was speaking in support of the Yes campaign at the London event, poured scorn on Mr Coburn’s attack on the Nationalists.

He said: “For Ukip to call the SNP fascists when we don’t tend to refer to people from Cambodia as Ting Tongs or think that we have bad weather because of homosexuality is genuinely one of the funniest things I have ever heard.”