The SNP portray the United Kingdom as a "foreign land" full of "racists", a pro-union campaign chief has said.

Graeme Pearson, a former Labour MSP who is heading the Scotland in Union campaign group, made the claims as he launched an initiative - Project Listen - to persuade the First Minister to abandon plans for a second independence referendum.

Mr Pearson told the audience he wanted to build a campaigning organisation of "tens of thousands" of Scots to send Nicola Sturgeon "homeward tae think again".

He said: "Conversation by conversation we hope to persuade our fellow Scots that the best future for us all is to be part of something bigger.

"I do not recognise our opponent's description of the UK. They see it as a foreign land full of Tories, racists and people who look down on Scotland".

Scotland in Union is a pro-union group set up in the wake of the 2014 referendum to create a permanent non-party campaign in opposition to the SNP.

The group claims it has already had around 20,000 declared supporters and hope to have 50,000 by the end of March.

Mr Pearson said Nationalists "need to answer" a range of questions about the economics of independence before a referendum can go ahead.

He claimed the Scottish Government "will fiddle their way through it somehow" and not give clear answers during a campaign.

The former MSP warned Scotland is facing the prospect of entering into a "dismal cycle" of "vote, ignore and repeat" until unionists are "ground down".

A spokesman for the SNP said: "Graeme Pearson is simply making things up - and is completely hypocritical considering Sadiq Khan branded supporters of independence as bad as racists.

"People in Scotland will have strong bonds with people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland regardless of the constitutional settlement. The issue is whether Scotland should be able to determine its own future or be at the mercy of a Tory government we never voted for.

"It's hardly a surprise that Graeme Pearson and his band of ultra-unionists are opposed to giving the people of Scotland that choice."