JK Rowling has claimed that the wizard villain Lord Voldemort from her Harry Potter series is a "nationalist".

The author, who donated £1 million to the Better Together campaign in 2014, said Voldemort is not a populist but "a kind of nationalist".

The 54-year-old was asked during a show on Radio 4 about her opinion on the study that had found that those people who read Harry Potter books had more empathy and tolerance.

She said: “Obviously those themes are deeply embedded within the books. Ideas of being different, racism is obviously there in allegorical form, as totalitarianism is there, because Voldemort is obviously an authoritarian. I wouldn’t say he’s a populist, but he’s a kind of nationalist.”

Rowling previously compared the people who criticized her stance on independence to Harry Potter’s enemies, the "Death Eaters".

On the Christmas special show, Rowling also stated that she has repeatedly refused to work with the Government on initiatives pertaining to literacy as she does not want students to be forced to read books written by her.