Lib Dems: SNP could gain independence by back door by Scott Macnab, The Scotsman Newspaper.

Willie Rennie, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

The SNP could still gain “independence by the back door” through an “ultra extreme” form of devolution in a post-election deal, Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie will say tonight.

The comments follow warnings by former First Minister Alex Salmond last week that the forthcoming UK election could be used to secure “home rule” for Scotland.

Mr Rennie will claim “the Nationalist campaign continues” in a keynote speech in Edinburgh.

But Nationalists last night dismissed the claims and insisted there is widespread support for Holyrood controlling all areas of government policy except defence and foreign affairs. “Independence can only be decided in a referendum,” said SNP backbench MSP Mark MacDonald.

Mr Rennie will go on the offensive in a lecture at the David Hume Institute this evening in Edinburgh.

“The SNP want independence by the back door,” Mr Rennie will say. “As a minimum they say they want a form of ultra-extreme devolution that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world and which would inevitably tip Scotland into independence.”

Mr Rennie will accuse Nationalists of “redefining what an election was about” after the votes have been counted.

Read more here: