THE SNP have accused the Scottish Tories of carrying out a “campaign of disinformation” following claims fans had been “locked out” of Hampden during a Scotland match.

A tweet by the Tories stated “thousands” of Scotland fans had been unable to get into the ground last weekend until after kick-off due to vaccine passport spot checks being in place.

However, the claim was denied by the Scottish Government, who said the Scottish Football Association had confirmed delayed entry into ­Hampden was not due to the scheme, which is not due to come fully into force until this week.

The tweet (below), which called for the scrapping of the “botched SNP scheme”, was not taken down by the Tories after the government response.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay said the “blatant falsehood” is just the ­latest example of the Tories using social ­media accounts to publish often ­misleading information.

Others include a graphic ­circulated on social media by the Tories ­following the announcement of a one-off £500 bonus for NHS and social care workers by the Scottish ­Government in November last year.

The tweet claimed it was “brought to you by Rishi Sunak and the UK Government”, but a fact check ­published by The Ferret concluded this was misleading as the payment was not a UK Government spending decision.

Another social media claim by the Scottish Tories dismissed by The ­Ferret fact check service was that the SNP had voted to “scrap 545,000 Scottish jobs” by voting against the Internal Market Bill.

It found that figure referred to the number of jobs supported by demand from elsewhere in the UK – but there was no suggestion they would be lost if the bill was not supported.

In September, the ­announcement that possessing Class A drugs in ­Scotland could lead to a police ­warning rather than prosecution, led to the Tories claiming in a post that the SNP have “weakened laws on the possession of the most deadly drugs”.

It went on: “This is a dangerous ­decision that will benefit drug dealers and make it more difficult for police officers to stop the supply of Class A drugs.”

But in response Roddy Dunlop QC, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, noted: “This is a decision made by the lord advocate as head of Crown Office. Not by the Scottish ministers, let alone by the SNP.

“By all means disagree with the move, but let’s be clear as to whose move it is.”

The Scottish Tories were also ­criticised after using an old picture of Nicola Sturgeon in a tweet in ­January to accuse the SNP of ­“hypocrisy” for highlighting Boris Johnson’s ­travelling while lockdown rules were in place.

It prompted SNP MP Stephen Flynn (below) to respond: “Disinformation is gutter politics and the Tories are swimming in it. As they know, this photo of the FM was taken at the start of December.”

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Mackay, who is MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, said: “As politicians we have a responsibility to those we represent, however, the Tories continually set a dangerous precedent by deliberately misinforming voters and using social media accounts to publish what is often misleading information. 

“Their blatant falsehoods over the Scotland football match last weekend was a perfect demonstration of this.

 “The Tories’ campaign of disinformation should come as no surprise, but time after time, they fail to learn that the people of Scotland will not have the wool pulled over their eyes, and will continue to see right through the Tories and reject  them at the ­ballot box.”

In December last year it emerged Tory activists in Northamptonshire had been urged to campaign like Donald Trump by “weaponising fake news” and talking “nonsense” if it works.

The details emerged in a party newsletter which also added: “A lie can go round the world before the truth can get its boots on.”

The UK Conservative Party was also accused of misleading the public on social media when it rebranded its official Twitter account as “factcheckUK” during a televised leaders’ debate for the 2019 General Election.

Under electoral law, claims in political campaigns do not have to be truthful or factually accurate – although it is a crime to make or publish a false statement of fact about the personal character or conduct of a candidate.

However, a study last year for the cross-party campaign Compassion in Politics found a majority of people support making it a criminal offence for politicians to lie to the public.

Nearly eight in ten, 76%, backed the idea of introducing a new law to make it a crime for politicians to ­deliberately lie.

The Scottish Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment.