BORIS Johnson’s “ignorance risks isolating Brexit Britain even further”, the SNP have said amid reports that the Prime Minister will be snubbed by the EU and not invited to a key leaders’ summit later this week.

The Prime Minister has not yet received an invite to a European Council meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday – despite the fact that he will be in Brussels for a Nato meeting that day anyway.

The Mirror reported a source as saying it was “looking unlikely” that Johnson would be invited after he appeared to link voting for Brexit to fighting for Ukraine’s freedom in a speech over the weekend.

The remarks – which the UK Government have since denied were directly linking the two – sparked international outrage.

READ MORE: 'Normal people' don't think Boris Johnson compared Brexit to Ukraine war, Sajid Javid claims

FT reported that the comparison was likely to reinforce the view in Europe of Johnson as a “populist who is determined to keep scoring points against the EU, six years after the Brexit vote”.

Philippe Errera, the political director at France’s foreign ministry, wrote: “If I were Ukrainian, I would feel insulted. If I were British, I would feel ashamed. As a French diplomat, I will not comment on Twitter…”

Peter Ricketts (below), a crossbench peer who was formerly the UK Government’s first national security adviser told Sky News in the wake of Errera’s comment that he did not think it “very surprising” that Johnson had not been invited.

The National:

“Given the sort of remarks he was making over the weekend, comparing Brexit to the struggle of the Ukrainian people, I mean, that was seen as desperately insulting and insensitive all around Europe,” he said.

“I'm afraid we are not going to be helping to shape the agenda with our EU counterparts.

“In the crucial discussions that will go on between Joe Biden and the Europeans, for example, on strengthening sanctions, the UK is going to be on the sidelines.

“I think the Prime Minister ought to be reaching out and working to improve relations to heal the wounds of the past with the EU, not doubling down.”

It would be Johnson’s first EU summit since Brexit took effect, and Downing Street had previously indicated he would be open to attending.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson does not regret linking Ukraine war to Brexit, No 10 says

The SNP foreign affairs spokesperson, Alyn Smith MP, said Johnson’s “crass and deeply insulting” connection of Ukraine to Brexit suggested the Prime Minister was “desperately trying to conjure some form of culture or trade war with the EU”.

Smith said: “It appears his ignorance risks isolating Brexit Britain even further.

“That the Prime Minister has seemingly uninvited himself to this summit with his comments would be laughable were it not so serious. The fact that, years on and in the midst of massive crises, he’s still putting his party’s ideological Brexit before everything else shows how out of touch he and his party are.

“At such a crucial time we need a leader who is able to represent us at such summits on Ukraine, EU energy policy, and global Covid recovery, instead we have a man bumbling from one gaffe to another.”

The Stirling MP added: “Scotland didn’t vote for this Brexit mess yet we’re being made to pay the price many times over. This is just another in a long list of reasons why Scotland’s global interests would be best served with the full powers of independence.”