Opposition parties have demanded the SNP's "slient Brexiteers" publicly out themselves after it was revealed a number of SNP MSPs voted Leave.

The controversy comes after Alex Neil, a former health secretary in the First Minister's cabinet, told The Daily Telegraph he and other SNP MSPs voted for Brexit.

Their votes came despite campaigning for Remain before the June 23 referendum.

He said: "In the last ten days of the campaign I was persuaded and George Osborne just tipped me over with his emergency budget.

"I saw the scaremongering and there was no way I was going to endorse it. I was not going to vote for George Osborne and David Cameron's scare campaign."

Neil also used instances of financial collapse in EU member states such as Portugal and Greece as having a large bearing on his decision to back a Leave vote.

He went on to suggest a number of SNP politicians had conflicting public and private views with regards to membership of the EU.

Neil added: "There's a number of my colleagues who have spoken to me privately who did the same. They don't want to broadcast it. They were betwixt and between and they voted Leave."

Commenting on Mr Neil's claims of SNP politicians privately supporting Brexit, the Scottish Conservatives demanded the party's "silent Brexiteers" come forward publicly.

Constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said: "Alex Neil's comments blow a hole in the SNP's attempt to use Brexit to manufacture support for independence.

"As he says, he was among 400,000 of Nicola Sturgeon's supporters who backed Leave on June 23.

"Britain's decision to leave the European Union was made as much by her own supporters as it was by anyone else.

"And it now turns out that he was one of several other unknown SNP MSPs who voted for Brexit."

He added: "How can Nicola Sturgeon use this vote to whip up grievance and claim independence must now be 'on the table' when several of her own MSPs backed it?

"The SNP's 'silent Brexiteers' now need to come forward openly and let their constituents know how they voted.

"We know that voting Leave is still considered a thought crime by the SNP leadership. Alex Neil has now finally broken his own four-month silence - those SNP MSPs who backed Leave now need to show some gumption and explain their actions."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said he was not surprised by the disclosure.

He said: "Today's revelation is of no real surprise considering the First Minister herself kept telling her supporters that we'd have another independence referendum if the UK voted to leave the EU.

"Instead of gambling with the livelihood of those who will be negatively impacted by Brexit, the First Minister can redeem herself if she joins the Liberal Democrats in helping keep the UK within the EU.

"After the yesterday's high court ruling the momentum is with us who wish to see a referendum on terms of Brexit. Voting for a departure is different from voting for a destination. "

The SNP has declined to comment on the issue.