THE SNP’s Westminster leader has warned Theresa May that if she does not act to stop the Brexit “madness”, Scotland will.

The comments from Ian Blackford came during Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.

There was an unusual atmosphere in the chamber, with three Tory MPs and one further Labour MP having defected that morning to The Independent Group (TIG), taking their total to 11.

The political shake-up was not directly mentioned during PMQs, though SNP MP Blackford described the Tories and Labour as “imploding”, saying Scotland deserved better.

After May refused to specify the time of a vote on her Brexit deal, he said: “Quite simply, that is not good enough. Time is running out.

“Three and a half thousand jobs have been lost from Honda; the NFU says that a no-deal Brexit is the ‘stuff of nightmares’; and 100,000 jobs in Scotland are under threat.

READ MORE: Fear that a no-deal Brexit ‘could push Scotland into a recession’

“Prime Minister, you are bringing the UK economy to its knees. How many warnings, how many jobs and how many resignations will it take for the Prime Minister to stop this madness? If you do not act, Prime Minister, Scotland will.”

May responded: “Being a member of the United Kingdom is worth £1400 every year for each person in Scotland. He talks about damaging the economy; the only people who are going to damage the economy in Scotland are sitting on the SNP benches.”

It came on a difficult day for the Prime Minister, as Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston hit out at her “disastrous” handling of Brexit, as they resigned from her party to join TIG, with Labour’s Joan Ryan also jumping ship yesterday.

The National:

Allen claimed ministers “at all levels” in government were sympathetic to their decision to cross the floor in the Commons.

They made clear that their concerns about May’s performance went far wider than Brexit, accusing the PM of throwing away the modernisation agenda begun by David Cameron and allowing the party to be taken over by right-wing hardliners.

Soubry said: “The right-wing, the hardline anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe. They are the Conservative Party.”

READ MORE: It shows how bad things are when ex-Tories are able to outshine Labour

The Broxtowe MP urged “fellow one nation Conservatives” and “like-minded LibDems” to “please, come and join us” by breaking away from their parties and joining the new grouping.

The three blamed “Blukip” or a “purple Momentum” of hard-right “zealots” for trying to force out MPs on the Remain wing of the party through de-selections.

They claimed May had shown a “dismal failure” to stand up to the European Research Group of Brexiteer Conservatives, who were operating as a “party within a party” at Westminster.

May said she was “saddened” by the decision but insisted that “we are doing the right thing for our country” by delivering Brexit.

She added: “I am determined that under my leadership the Conservative Party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve.”

A Downing Street spokesman said the three MPs’ Conservative associations were now free to select new General Election candidates but said he was not aware of any central directive to do so.

The move brings the tally of TIG MPs to 11 – equal to the LibDems and one more than the Democratic Unionist Party.

LibDem leader Sir Vince Cable offered to work with the new group, hinting at a possible electoral pact by saying it would be “foolish” for them to stand candidates against each other.

A YouGov poll suggested 14% of voters would back the breakaway group if it stood candidates, with the Tories on 38% and Labour on 26%.

The biggest impact on voting intention caused by the split was in pushing many Labour voters to “don’t know”.