THERESA May has been slammed for “hypocrisy” after privately warning before the EU referendum that companies would leave the UK if the country voted for Brexit.

A recording of her remarks to bankers at Goldman Sachs, which surfaced yesterday, revealed she had serious concerns about Britain exiting the bloc which contrast with the hard Brexit stance she has taken since becoming Prime Minister.

The criticism came from Scotland’s Brexit minister Mike Russell, who was updating Holyrood on work the Scottish Government was doing in response to the June vote, which saw people north of the Border vote by 62 per cent to Remain.

During the session he told MSPs that his Government was trying to answer the “serious existential threat to Scotland in the Brexit process” before being asked by the Lib Dem MSP Tavish Scott what he thought of May’s comments to Goldman Sachs staff.

Russell replied: “It is fairly astonishing to discover that the Prime Minister’s voice was saying that Brexit would be a disaster and that now she is telling us to whistle a happy tune and believe that everything will be well. I call that hypocrisy.”

The exchange took place as the First Minister said UK Government ministers would be wrong to close their mind to the possibility of a flexible solution for Scotland in negotiations over Brexit.

Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland must be part of discussions taking place over special arrangements for different sectors or parts of the UK.

Opening the annual National Economic Forum in Edinburgh, she said her Government does not underestimate the potential challenges that poses.

She said: “We’re already hearing discussion and debate about the possibility of special arrangements for different parts of the UK.

“The necessity, in my view, for special arrangements for Northern Ireland to protect the peace process and avoid a hard border between North and South.

“We’re hearing similar discussions about Gibraltar, as well as similar discussions about particular economic sectors – like car manufacturing and financial services.

“So there is already a discussion about flexibility, and I think it is important that Scotland is part of that discussion. It would be wrong, and not credible, for the UK Government to consider flexible solutions for other areas or sectors but close their mind for that in Scotland.”

Updating MSPs Russell also said it would make “no logical, political or economic sense” for the UK Government not to consider a special deal for Scotland.

On Monday, Sturgeon and Russell attended what the First Minister afterwards described as a “deeply frustrating” Brexit summit in Downing Street between May and devolved leaders.

Yesterday Russell also referred to the consultation launched last week on the draft Referendum Bill which he said would be ready for introduction should it be “the right way to proceed”.

Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins continued on his party’s line of attack, accusing the Scottish Government of “wasting everybody’s time” with the push for a new independence referendum.

He said: “We’ve already answered this question, we said no, and the SNP signed an agreement that they would abide by and respect the answer, so why have they ratted on that agreement?”

Speaking at Goldman Sachs in London on 26 May, May, then home secretary told staff it was time the UK took a lead in Europe, and that she hoped voters would look to the future rather than the past.

In an hour-long session before the City bankers, she also worried about the effect of Brexit on the British economy.

“I think the economic arguments are clear,” she said in a recording leaked to the Guardian. “I think being part of a 500-million trading bloc is significant for us. I think, as I was saying to you a little earlier, that one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe.

“If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.”

But in her speech to the Tory conference, she said British companies needed the “maximum freedom to trade and operate in the single market” but not at the expense of “giving up control of immigration again”.

The Scottish Government has said it will bring forward specific proposals for a so-called flexible Brexit that would keep Scotland in the single market, even if the rest of the UK left.

Corbyn Goes Forth...

JEREMY Corbyn mocked Theresa May by insisting Baldrick is the only “great philosopher” he could think of when assessing the Government’s Brexit strategy.

The Labour leader referred to the Blackadder television character who regularly pronounces “I have a cunning plan” as he pressed the Prime Minister on her Brexit strategy yesterday.

Speaking during PMQs, Corbyn said to May: “On Monday, you told the House, ‘We have a plan which is not to set out at every stage of the negotiations the details’.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days. I think when you’re searching for the real meaning and the importance behind the Prime Minister’s statement, you have to consult the great philosophers.

“The only one I could come up with is Baldrick, who says, ‘Our cunning plan is to have no plan’.”