The SNP plan to stay in the European single market would create "a Donald Trump-style economic wall" between Scotland and the rest of the UK, a Conservative MSP has said.

Ross Thomson, who supported Leave during the European Union referendum, made the claim in a letter to SNP MSP Kevin Stewart.

It came in response to a letter from Mr Stewart, who represents the north east alongside Thomson, asking for support in "efforts to protect Aberdeen and Scotland's relationship with the EU and its place in the single market".

But Thomson called First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's attempts to stay inside the single market "daft" and likened them to Trump's wall proposals.

President Trump has vowed to build a wall on the US border with Mexico in a bid to halt illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Thomson told Stewart: "I am sure it will be of no surprise to you that I will not be supporting you in that daft effort.

"In your letter you have proposed an unworkable solution in which Scotland retains free movement and single market membership, whilst the rest of the UK leaves.

"Not only would this be politically, technically and administratively impossible but the numbers simply don't add up."

Thomson continued: "In 2015, Scotland sent 63% of exports to the rest of the UK compared with just 16% to the EU. Scotland's exports to the rest of the UK increased by 74.1% between 2002 and 2015; whereas exports to the EU increased by only 7.9%.

"And yet, in your letter you would readily erect a Donald Trump-style economic wall between Scotland and the rest of the UK, in order to remain inside the single market."

In his letter, the Conservative MSP gets the year of the independence referendum wrong - giving it as 2015 rather than 2014 - and says Brexit will allow Scotland to be "freed from the constraints of a shrinking Eurozone" despite the UK never adopting the single currency.

An SNP source said: "If vocal Brexiteer Ross Thomson thinks that we're about to leave the Eurozone then he should spend some time reading 'EU for Dummies' - or maybe just check what currency is in his wallet.

"Tory boy Thomson can complain about the SNP's 'daft effort' all he wants, but his own party's plans for Brexit involve actively harming Scotland's economy, putting jobs at risk and cosying up to Donald Trump.

"[Scottish Conservative leader] Ruth Davidson won't be impressed by the ambitious Mr Thomson seemingly revealing that he turned up to vote in the independence referendum a year late."