euroscepticism at Westminster is deeply damaging for Scotland, according to Alex Salmond.
The First Minister’s claims came as David Cameron defended his record on the EU and his policy pledge to hold a referendum on membership.
Mr Salmond warned a No vote in the independence referendum could see Scotland “dragged out of Europe” against its will, although the Prime Minister’s aides pointed to previous polling which shows 58% of Scots want an in/out vote on membership in Brussels, including 63% of SNP supporters.
Mr Cameron said: “I completely understand why people get frustrated with the way things work but the answer is not to throw your hands up and give up, it’s actually to get stuck in and recognise you can change things.
“People said to me: ‘You’ll never cut the European budget.’ I cut it. People said to me: ‘You’ll never veto a treaty in Europe.’ I vetoed one. People said: ‘You’ll never get your way on single market reform protecting our key industries.’
“We’ve repeatedly got our way so if we fight we can win. That’s an argument I’ve obviously got to have in Scotland and right across the UK.”
He also attacked Douglas Carswell’s decision to defect to Ukip as “regrettable” and “quite bizarre”.
Mr Salmond focused on remarks from the president of the Confederation of British Industry, Sir Mike Rake, who said the prospect of a 2017 referendum is increasingly causing “real concern” for firms.
The First Minister told BBC Scotland he does not believe there is “any wish” in Scotland for the country to leave the EU.
He said: “I think, on the contrary, the politics of Euroscepticism that we see in Westminster are deeply damaging for Scotland, and could be even more damaging if we are dragged out of Europe.
“I think we should get on with building a constructive relationship with the rest of our partners across the European continent. I think that is very much the trend of the outward-looking, internationalist approach of the people who believe in an independent Scotland.”
He added: “The debate in Scotland is that we should not place ourselves in the position, given that we are only 8% of the UK population, of potentially being dragged out of the European Union against our wishes, against our will, which might be the position if we are foolish enough to have a No vote in this referendum.”
Mr Cameron said he would be back in Scotland before the independence vote on September 18. He said: “I think it’s very important after this vote that everyone comes together and obviously I want to play a role in making that happen,” he added.